Pokemon USA
by Archie'n'Amphy
Summary: Mike had always loved to write fan fictions, and while he tried to imagine himself in his stories, he never thought he would find himself there for real. An incomplete thought in his head has become a world of its own.
1. Something Strange

_Sebastian "Dragon Man" Wyvern passed away last night after a tremendous fight against his mysterious illness for three months. He was a brave man with an amazing life full of action packed pokemon battles. His last days saw him still with a proud fighting spirit. At the age of 89, he had a long and happy life. Before he died, he left one last never-before-seen recorded message to the people of the United States of America. We go now to the recording:_

An elderly man appeared on the screen, though he an appeared frail and weak his voice was strong, and his eyes fierce. There was certain elegance about him, like he was a fallen king.

_People of the United States of America: _

_I need not restate the obvious, please do not mourn my death. I have asked the news to run this film the day of or after my death so I could leave a message: use this opportunity! I have spoken with the other Elite Four members and we came to an agreement; we need a new member. So a tournament shall start exactly a week after today. I do not know what the name of the tournament will be, but I do know that it will be huge! Every store will have a new item for sale after I die: a device called the Poketch. This will be your ticket into the tournament. The rules will be explained on a sheet that the Poketch comes with. After that, you're on your own. Good luck, trainers, and good bye. _

**Chapter 1 **

Mike sat up in his bed._ That was a weird dream... _As he thought about it more, he decided to use it for one of his fan fictions. "Not that I ever finish those..." he added to himself, chuckling.

He walked downstairs into the empty kitchen, parents already at work...again. He didn't mind eating alone, but he missed the days they ate as a family. _Get over it Mike you're-what-fourteen? One more month and you'll be a full grown man! At least, that's what Dad always says._ He ate breakfast and went out for a jog. Since it was summer and he didn't have to worry about school, he took his longer route.

He was jogging past the civic center, a rentable auditorium where events were often held. It seemed to be in use at the moment. The sign read, "Children's Pokémon Tournament. Apply today and tomorrow here or online!" He chuckled. _My brother would flip for this. I should tell him; it will be a good way to celebrate his new Pokémon game. _

"Hey! Mike, over here!" Mike turned around and saw his friend, David, jogging towards him.

"Hey what's up?" Mike said after David caught up.

"You going to pick up your pokémon?" He asked.

Mike assumed that it was a joke and laughed, but stopped when he realized that David wasn't laughing. "What do you mean?"

"You let them sleep at the Pokémon Center last night so they could be rested for our trip tomorrow, right?"

This wasn't a joke. David was horrible at lying. But then why is he talking about Pokémon as if they were real?

"Well, mine are rested and ready!" He said as he took some red and white balls (poke balls?) out of his pocket. "Come on out, guys!" Out popped a zangoose, a bastiodon, and a skarmory.

Mike yelped and jumped back. "H-how?" He uttered a couple other unintelligible noises.

"Are you alright, man?" David looked worried, the kind of worried one looks like when one has a crazy friend.

Suddenly, Mike thought of something and said, "Oh, I get it... I'm still asleep!" He quickly slapped himself...and saw stars dance before his eyes. "Whoa... almost knocked myself out there, but that hurt, so I'm not asleep?" Now he became conscious that David still had that worried look, and so did his Pokémon.

But suddenly David said, "Oh! You're probably surprised at my bastiodon, right? I forgot to tell you that he evolved last night!" Bastiodon smiled in pride and the other pokémon's expressions eased, convinced that this was the cause of his reaction.

_Play along,_ thought Mike._ I don't know what's going on but I can figure it out later_. "Oh, y-yeah, that's it, plus I haven't been sleeping well, and that's why I thought I was still asleep."

"Oh, okay. Take care, Mike!" And with that he departed, but not before giving him a strange look.

%%%%

Ralts couldn't explain it. One moment she was fine, just looking for a berry to munch on. Then, all of a sudden, she felt confused. _I might be sensing someone else's confusion._ She shook her head. _I need to get out of here_.

She turned and walked in a different direction. But after a while she began to stumble_. I... I think that... I... uh... I'm going towards it. _She changed direction again and promptly walked into a tree. _Ow... that hurt. Uh, I'm so dizzy. Poor thing is really confused._ She got up and continued walking. _I'm going to get lost, I just know it._

%%%%

"This is my home town, but it isn't. This forest wasn't here..." Mike continued to grumble to himself as he stumbled through the forest. He wasn't paying attention to where he was going. He only knew that he was heading to where he knew the acute care center was, except now he hoped it was the Poke Center. Or maybe he was hoping it wasn't. "I guess it makes sense. We could get check-ups and physicals there so I guess here it would be a po-OH!" He tripped over something soft and green and face planted.

He sat up slowly, turned around, and saw a dazed ralts. She got up carefully, seeming to have troubles with her head. "Oh, sorry little fella," he said as he brushed of some wood chips from her.

Ralts started as she realized that it was a human that knocked her over, but she calmed down after a second. _No hostile emotions, he's just worried and a bit confused._ She looked up at him curiously and realized, _Maybe he's the one that was confusing me so._

"You alright? Anything broken?" She shook her head no. _Oh, great! Now I'm talking to a Pokémon. How is this...?_

_Oh, no... Here we go again..._ She wobbled and almost fell, except she caught herself on his arm. Mike again turned his attention on her, ending the flow of confusing thoughts for a moment. _I have to stop this or I'm going to throw up._ Ralts gathered her thoughts and peered into his eyes, extending her mind towards his.

Mike started to feel a bit peculiar, and then he heard a voice that seemed to belong to a six year old girl. [What is it that is confusing you, human?] It said.

He looked around, but the only other living thing around was the ralts. "Whoa, how'd you-?"

[I am a psychic Pokémon, am I not? Now why are you so confused?]

"I... I don't... think you want to hear about it."

[Maybe, but your confusion is very... contagious. You might not know this, but I can sense emotions of others. Your confusion is so great that I'm having trouble even walking. I want to help you if I can so that neither of us has to suffer.]

"It's a long story"

[It can be told faster if you think it to me.]

After a pause and a few difficulties with communications he told her everything, right up to when he tripped on her. [I just don't understand how or why I'm here. But now that I think about it, I wanted to write a Pokémon fan fiction, and one of my characters had a zangoose, bastiodon, and a skarmory, and David had those Pokémon.]

She thought for a moment, then suggested, [Perhaps you have become part of this fan fiction of yours.]

[Well, that's helpful. Except that I was still brainstorming that. I haven't even started it. I was still working on another Fan fiction.]

There was another pause, then Ralts asked, [Please, what is a fan fiction?]

"Erk!" Mike flinched. He didn't know how a Pokémon would react to being told that they were made up. [It has to do with writing.] She felt him grow uncomfortable and let it drop.

[Well, is there anything else that you brainstormed for this fan fiction of yours?]

[Well...] He thought for a second. [I did have two Pokémon I wanted to use picked out, hitmonchan and yanma, so I guess those are the ones that I'm going to pick up from the Pokémon center. I suppose I can figure things out from there.]

Ralts smiled. [Good! I'm glad I could be of assistance,] she said, then got up and walked away.

[Wait!] She had already severed the connection. "Hold on!" he said out loud. She stopped. "What's your name?"

She reconnected and said, [We ralts don't have names; we have voices, speech patterns, and homes, so we don't need names. Good bye.]

**Chapter 2**

_It felt good to talk to someone about my problems, even if it was a Pokémon. _

Mike now walked a bit more confidently. _At least I'll be able to have some fun in this world. Maybe I'll catch a fearow, make him really strong so he can fly me places. _

He felt shivers run up his spine and grinned. While he wasn't the traditional adrenaline junky, he did enjoy dangerous situations, enough so that he had accumulated a decent number of injuries over the years. To keep himself from getting too hurt, he kept himself fit and healthy, and he took a martial arts class to learn how to tolerate pain. He even took a stunt man class one summer, mostly for fun, but he learned how to absorb some of the shock on falls.

He continued to fantasize about flying and again neglected to check where he was going. High above him, a swellow was being mobbed by a swarm of beedrills because it had a weedle in its talons. After a beedrill hit it on the head, it dropped the weedle right in front of Mike. Mike started and punted the already dazed worm.

"Man that scared me!" he said, then heard a noise above him. "Huh?" He looked up and saw four of the beedrills, obviously unhappy about the treatment of their kin, break off from the others and start charging at him. "Shoot!"

He sprinted through the forest, afraid for his life, and yet, _and yet_... he was having fun. Now that his adrenaline was pumping, he couldn't help but feel that strange, giddy happiness that always possessed him in his times of peril. Even now, a grin over took his face. "Well, Mike old boy... how're you gonna get yourself outta this one?"

They broke into a clearing, a parking lot. Up ahead, there was the Pokémon Center, with a hitmonchan and yanma hanging out nearby. _My Pokémon...? _He turned around to face the beedrills, now running backwards. _Well maybe, if they are my Pokémon, they'll come out to help me; if not... well, I don't know. _

He stopped himself with a skid, charged forward, and threw a mighty punch. It caught the lead beedrill completely off guard and on the head. Its momentum caused it to spin as it hit the ground, where it lay still. The other three seemed shocked that their prey had suddenly struck back, but they soon recovered and charged again. _Now to test what I've learned from my martial arts class. _

He kicked beedrill number 2 square in the chest, or thorax, and parried the stinger of beedrill 3. He swung it around and whacked beedrill 4 with it. He lunged at 2 again and executed a text book "superman punch": midair, downward hook. 2 was out cold. Mike jumped back up and quickly rolled out of the way of a twin needle attack from 3, but then found himself in between 3 and 4. Crap! 3 and 4 were attacking from both sides, and he was out of breath, too slow to dodge the attacks. He felt a stinger pierce his shoulder, followed by intense pain...

But before the beedrill could sink its stinger any deeper than that, it was cut off by a lightning fast punch to the head. Hitmonchan was in the fight, and when Mike turned around he saw that yanma had also joined, throwing sonicbooms at the other two bugs. _Good, _thought Mike, rubbing his burning wound, _at least I'm not dead._

The beedrills finally retreated, carrying their injured with them. Mike was now alone with the pokemon. His pokemon? _I guess there is only one more way to check..._"Magnum?" Hitmonchan looked up at the mention of his name. "Bullet?" yanma landed on his head. There was no mistake, they were his. He had an almost uncontainable urge to yell "AWESOME!" at the top of his lungs, but refrained. That would have been weird.


	2. Getting in the Groove

**Chapter 3**

Both Magnum and Bullet were still at it, but hesitantly. They had been sparring and exercising for almost a half hour under Mike's relentless order. Oftentimes throughout, they would glance up at him with uneasy expressions, kind of like David's when Mike was freaking out about the pokemon.

One of the things that Mike often fantasized about was how he trained his pokemon, and it was always a rigorous workout. He hadn't even thought this training session was a big deal, since he was the only one to have carried over any wounds from the last scuffle, and it was a small one too that one of the nurses had already bandaged. It suddenly occurred to him these pokemon had been brought up under another training schedule, and he was the one acting strangely. It looked like he didn't have full control of this world after all.

"Alright, that's enough," Mike called, causing his pokemon to quit their fight and and sigh with relief. "How about we hit the plaza?"

Another short trek through the forest brought them to Mallard Creek Plaza, except it was Farfetch'd Creek instead. Despite that, all the out door restaurants, fast food restaurants, shoe stores, book stores...everything else was mostly the same.

There was one thing Mike wished he didn't recognize, though.

Over near one of the fast food places stood Shirin Sluks. She liked getting people to gamble their favorite things away to her, and she always won, even if she had to cheat. She was currently battling a girl of about eleven, whose prinplup didn't look too good. The unfortunate penguin was getting badly scratched up by a sableye.

"Stop!" yelled the girl. She tried to recall her prinplup, but Sableye stood in the way.

"Aww, you give up? Good!" Shirin smiled viciously. "So, I'll just take your money now-"

"Not until you let that ralts go, you big bully!" The girl shouted while hugging her wounded pokemon. Mike gasped when he realized that the ralts in the bully's arms was the same one he had been talking to yesterday.

"Oh, but that wasn't the deal," she said in a mocking tone. "I won, so I get to keep what I want. Give it, or else..." She gestured at her sableye and it advanced menacingly.

The girl's lip quivered, and she hugged prinplup tightly, but she didn't budge from her spot. "N-no..." The sableye raised an arm...

Mike had seen enough. "Magnum, think you can-?"

Magnum grunted and dashed off before Mike finished his sentence. He quickly grabbed the girl and her pokemon and moved them to safety.

"Shirin, stop!"

"Ah, Mike-old-buddy!" Shirin replied, again in a mocking tone. "So nice of you to join us!"

"I never thought you'd go so low as to challenge a little kid," Mike growled.

"She challenged me," she said, in the same way a whiny child would say, _She started it! _"She did it to win my pokemon here," explained Shirin, pointing to Ralts, "so I'm being nice by only taking her money, and not her pokemon. Not that I'd want the weakling." She sneered at the prinplup, then turned her attention to hitmonchan. "But you know, your pokemon is pretty cool. I've actually had my eyes on it for a while. Fight ya for it."

The little girl looked up at Mike. "Please, do something," she begged. "She keeps knocking out that poor ralts, you have to save it!"

Mike did want to fight, but he didn't want Magnum to be the gamble. He looked at his hitmonchan and saw that he had no choice but to fight now; Magnum was bustling his fists in a "Let me at 'em!" mentality.

"Fine, have it your way. But I get Ralts when I win."

"Are those to your only two pokemon?"

"Yep."

"Alright, in that case, you're dead meat!"

"We'll see about that."

%%%%

The sports center that Mike knew now had a pokemon stadium. As they were waiting for the match to start, Mike talked to Magnum and Bullet. "Remember your hybrid hits, and your combos. Shirin probably isn't expecting you," he looked at Magnum, "to be able to hit her sableye. But if you can get a good ice punch on it you should be able to freeze it." Magnum nodded. "Also remember your team attack; that should come in handy."

"Are both trainers ready?" the referee called out.

"Yep," replied Mike.

"Let's do this!" shouted Shirin.

"The double match between Shirin and Mike will now begin!"

As soon as the bell rang, Shirin pulled out two pokeballs and tossed them. In a flash, out came an aggron and the sableye from before. Mike gestured for his pokemon to step (and hover) forward. "Bullet, I want you in the air. Magnum, I want you on guard, be ready to dodge."

"Fat chance," Shirin taunted. "Crush, shoot that bug down, and Crystal, faint attack."

Crystal the Sableye disappeared momentarily as Aggron (Crush) began to spit fire at Bullet. A split second later, Crystal reappeared and slashed at Magnum. He stumbled back and prepared to move away, but he was blocked as she manuevered around to block the path. Meanwhile, Bullet was doing a good job at dodging the fireballs coming his way.

"Fury swipes, Crystal!"

"Counter it, Magnum!"

Shirin smirked, thinking that hitmonchan couldn't hit her ghost. But as Magnum ducked under the attack, he uppercutted with an ice punch, freezing the jaw shut, and followed up with an ice hook, leaving Crystal with only a fourth of her face to use. The smirk immediately vanished from Shirin's. "Crush, Hyperbeam on hitmonchan!"

_Oh no you don't!_ "Now Bullet!" Bullet used aerial ace to reach Crush in a flash and incorporated the power of steel wing to redirect the beam. After the hit, Yanma barrel rolled to get out of the way of the beam, but received a burn on it's wing. Its flying was now shaky and a bit slow, and Shirin knew it.

"Shadow ball on Yanma, Crystal!"

"Magnum, don't let it hit!" But the ball was already shot. Bullet had a bit of a weakness in battle-it couldn't take much damage before fainting. That's why Mike trained it to dodge so much, but now it seemed as though Bullet was going to receive the full force of the shadow ball. At the last second, though, Magnum appeared in between Crystal and Bullet and used protect just in time.

In his relief, Mike didn't hear Shirin say to her pokemon, "Rock blast," nor did he notice in time that his Pokemon were in danger.

"No!" Mike cried as the rocks met their mark. Bullet fell and was out cold.

"Ha! I got them both!" cried Shirin.

"Yanma is unable to battle!" shouted the referee. He was about to call the same for Magnum when he got up, coughing blood, but on his feet again. Thankfully, he could take more damage than Bullet.

"Bullet, return!" Shouted Mike as he held out his ball. To his horror, the laser was blocked by the sableye.

"Ah, ah, ah." Shirin wiggled a finger. "I'm not done yet. Crush, show him how you got you're name: Body slam!"

"Violation!" the ref screamed, but it did nothing to slow the descent of 793 pounds of rock, steel, and flesh.

"Get him outta there! Now Magnum!" Magnum quickly picked up Bullet and jumped to safety. He landed a few steps from his trainer and fell to one knee. Mike looked in horror as Crush approached for a second try. There was little chance of another escape, much less a chance to win.

_I'm sorry Magnum, I wasn't good enough. _He pulled out both poke-balls, calling, "That's enough. Good job, you two." He tried again to call them back; Crystal again got in the way.

Again he heard Shirin say, "I'm not done yet."

**Chapter 4 **

"Use Slash, Crush! Kill the bug!"

Crush was now looming over the two fallen pokemon, aiming his claws downward. Mike, helpless and horrified, looked away.

"What the f-?" The rest of the word was cut off by the sound of aggron hitting the pokemon-free concrete.

Mike snapped his attention back to the field. Shirin looked as though she had seen a ghost, for Magnum was back on his feet and had Bullet with him. He put Bullet down, spread his arms, and clapped his hands together while using the two elemental punches Mike taught him (fire and ice). A splash of water brought Bullet's consciousness back. Grinning, Mike saw his opportunity to win.

"Magnum, Fire and Ice punch on sableye and aggron!"

"No you don't! Crush, flamethower. Sableye, Shadow ball!"

Magnum was now between the two Pokemon, both within arms length. "Get him out of there, Bullet, Aerial ace!" Crush and Crystal attacked, but Magnum disappeared at the last second, so they hit each other. The sableye fell; it couldn't stand the heat. Crush was sturdier but the shadow ball still made him stumble back. "Last attack! Magnum, Focus punch!"

"Crush! Their flying in from behind you! Get that bug!" Crush turned around and saw Bullet carrying a shining-fisted Magnum. He shot a rock at them, but Bullet ducked under it, then threw Magnum.

The final blow was a (superman) focus punch. Crush tottered, then collapsed with crash next to the panting hitmonchan.

Shirin was silent for a moment, stuck with a disbelieving look on her face. Suddenly though, her face filled with rage. She pulled out a pokeball and threw it. "Go, Cut-throat!" A flash revealed a rugged weavile. "Kill that son-of-a-b****!" She shouted. As she pointed, it charged forward, snarling.

"Magnum, look out!" Shouted Mike. The hitmonchan dodged the first attack, but then he missed a step, stumbling to regain his balanced. Vulnerable.

"Finish it!" Shirin screamed.

"Brick Break."

Just as Mike was sure he was about to lose a friend, a voice and a zangoose came from seemingly nowhere. The white mongoose slammed Cut-throat with the smooth part of its claws, causing it to stumble back a few steps. It stood there for a bit, staring down zangoose, but then wobbled and fell.

"Shirin," David stepped into the ring, glaring, "You're disqualified for attacking a downed fighter. Mike wins by default."

Shirin stood there, trembling as she recalled her pokemon, but still clinging to Ralts. Finally, she set her on the ground, muttering, "Here you go. I don't know why she won't wake up, but I didn't do anything to her, I swear." She backed up a few steps and ran.

The little girl rushed to Ralts and scooped her up in her arms. "She doesn't seem to be physically hurt," she said as she inspected her carefully. She turned and smiled at the two boys gratefully. "I can't thank you two enough for helping her!"

"Yeah," Mike said to his friend, who was now grinning. "Thanks for the save. I was really scared for a second there."

"Not a problem. Let's get off the field so the next trainers can fight."

As they walked toward the door, David apologized off-handedly. "Sorry I wasn't here sooner. I'm usually here to make sure jerks like Shirin don't kill anybody's pokemon."

"I think that's why Ralts is like this," the girl exclaimed while cradling the green and white pokemon. "Shirin was so full of meanness that poor Ralts couldn't handle it."

Mike looked at her in surprise. "You sound like a nurse."

She grinned shyly and said, "Thanks. I want to be a pokemon doctor when I grow up. I know that ralts have an aversion to hostile emotions, but I didn't know that it affected them this much." She paused and looked at Magnum and Bullet. "Can I try to heal your pokemon?"

Mike remembered his pokemon's injuries. He himself had nothing against the idea of letting the girl try but... "Ask them. They're their bodies."

She nodded. When they got outside, she asked Mike. "Could you hold Ralts for me?" Mike nodded and took the little creature. She was out cold, but he was pretty sure she was the same one from yesterday. Strange how convenient it had been to repay the Ralts's debt, and as he thought back to their conversation, he remembered that he wasn't supposed to be in this world. _What am I gonna do? _He thought, then shook his head_. I'll think about it later. I don't want to confuse poor Ralts again._

The girl, meanwhile, talked while she worked on Bullet. "My name's Kisha, and my prinplup's name is Faye. I got her about three weeks ago for my first pokemon. By the way, I don't know any of your names yet."

Mike introduced himself and his pokemon and let David do the same. They chatted a little bit more before Kisha finished up. "Alright, you guys," Mike said, still grateful that they weren't dead. "Time for a rest." They looked relieved as they returned into their pokeballs.

About the same time, Ralts woke up. "Hey, Ralts!" Mike greeted her warmly.

David walked up. "Finally decided to join the living, eh Ralts?" He said teasingly.

_Warmth...kindness...What a relief, that dreadful girl must be gone, _thought Ralts. As she felt her strength slowly coming back to her, she noticed who was holding her. [Mike?]

"Glad to see you recognize me," Mike said. When the other two trainers gave him funny looks, he explained, "I saw her earlier in the forest while I was on my way to pick up Magnum and Bullet."

Ralts pushed herself out of Mike's arms and placed herself gracefully on the ground using her psychic powers. She projected her thoughts so they could all hear her. [Thank you all for your assistance. I will depart now to my home.]

After Kisha and David got over the shock of being talked to by a pokemon, they protested. Kisha knelt down and asked, "What if another mean trainer finds you?"

[That trainer caught me by surprise. I was running from the beedrills that attacked Mike.]

David turned to Mike. "You got attacked by beedrill?"

"Uh, yeah..." Mike blushed. "A weedle fell out of the trees and freaked me out so much that I kicked it."

David stared at him for a second, dumbfounded, then replied bluntly, "You're an idiot, you know that?"

"I'm surprised you weren't hurt!" Kisha exclaimed.

"I managed to knock one out and then my pokemon helped out." Everyone stared at him with a combination of fascination and horror. "Going back to the subject, Ralts," Mike quickly moved on, "at least let us walk you home."

She thought about it for a second. True, these people were feeling concern and friendliness towards her and each other, but those were only surface emotions. Deep down inside, one of them might be plotting to capture her. There was ambition coming from the girl, Kisha, which, while seemingly innocent, made Ralts feel giddy and nervous.

Then she turned to Mike and unwittingly calmed down. He seemed to have that effect on her, for whatever reason. It was the same feeling she had when they were talking yesterday. A feeling of...need.

[Alright,] She said. [You may escort me.]


	3. You Say Goodbye

**Chapter 5**

At the edge of the forest, Ralts's stomach began to grumble, loudly. All the trainers looked down at her, and her face slowly went from white to pink. _I haven't eaten all day._

A second later, a chorus of growls came from the stomach of the others. Hearing the grumble from Ralts triggered the same thought from everybody: _I'm hungry._

"Uh, since everybody seems to be hungry," David said, "how's about we head somewhere for lunch. I'll buy, and Ralts," he looked down at her, "you're invited, too, of course."

"Why don't we eat at the pokemon center?" Mike suggested. "No offense, Kisha, but I want to make sure my pokemon get a full recovery."

She smiled. "None taken. I also need to get Faye healed. She got some nasty looking scratches."

It suddenly occurred to Ralts that these people had fought and risked their pokemon's lives for her. She had seen Shirin's pokemon in a brief instance before her greed knocked her out again, but that was enough to know that they were powerful. _I hope their pokemon weren't hurt too badly. I feel terrible now. Not only did I cause these kind humans trouble, I doubted them._

Outwardly, Ralts smiled at them. [Some food would be lovely.]

%%%%

The four friends chattered happily as they walked through the city, their bellies full, their pokemon refreshed, and their minds content. They had exchanged stories of adventures, scares, friends and family. They shared jokes and laughs, and by the end, they all felt like life long friends, and Kisha even arranged to go to Chicago with David and Mike the next day. It was late evening by the time they reached the forest's edge, Ralts's home, but she was having second thoughts about going. The others must've noticed, because...

"Hey, Ralts." Kisha walked up to her, smiling nervously.

_She's hesitant, wondering if she's being selfish._

"You don't have to go..." She bent down to Ralts's level. "If you come with us, we could take care of you. You could go in a pokeball, or I could carry you if you don't want to walk."

Ralts was silent for a while. She looked up at her new friends, and they all had the same emotion radiating from them. _Don't go_, a voice whispered in her head, and for a second she relished in the thought of staying with them. It would be nice to have new friends.

But then she realized what she was doing and shook her head. [Relationships always lead to disagreement, and disagreement leads to hostility, and I cannot endure that.]

"But wait," said Mike. "I'll admit that it's normal to argue, but it's not like we'll be arguing all the time."

[I am aware of that, but the little time that you do spend arguing is enough to make me ill, and that is why I must live alone.] She choked back her sadness. This was more than she ever intended to share with the humans. Well, the skitty was already mostly out of the bag, so she might as well finish the story. [I'm...a freak. Emotions effect all ralts, but not as much as they do me. I take them on, and they hurt me or make me sick. It is the reason that I renounced my friends...] She gulped, wondering why she had gone that far, [...and came to this forest alone. Elder Gallade said it would be best if I lived in solitude, so I could at least have some peace...]

She clutched her chest. Even now, she realized, she felt like there was a fang in her heart. It was her friends' sorrow, their pity, cutting into her. [Please don't feel too bad for me,] she hastened. [It's my lot in life, and I've come to accept it. It isn't like I'm always alone. My family visits sometimes.] She struggled to stay standing and thanked her long bangs for covering her streaming eyes. [So...please go.]

"Well then, Ralts," David now stepped forward, and petted her head, "it was nice meeting you. Good luck."

"Take care," squeaked Kisha, clearly holding back sobs. She reached out and hugged Ralts, painfully sad, but warm and comforting all the same.

Mike stood silent for a while. Finally, he said, "Let's meet again, okay?" He said it with a smile, but Ralts knew it was a mask. He was losing a friend, but he was also trying to be considerate, trying to tell himself that he shouldn't feel bad since it would be better for Ralts this way.

[Goodbye, friends, and thanks for everything,] she called as they walked away. As they shrank smaller and smaller into the city, she sighed with relief as the weight of their sorrow also moved away. Only her own remained. At least she had enough strength now to walk upright. With one last backwards glance, she wandered into the dark forest. Alone.

**Chapter 6**

[**Ralts... Wake up**.] The voice was soft, yet it seemed to explode at every syllable, rumble at every letter. [**I must speak to you**.]

Ralts roused herself and looked around. It was a moonless night and it was too dark to see anything. [Who's there?] she projected her thoughts in all directions, because she could not sense anything nearby to aim them to.

[**Relax, little one, I will not harm you**,] the voice responded.

[Who are you? Show yourself.] She heard a rustle to her left and extended her mind in that direction. After a bit she made contact with another mind. At first, she couldn't tell who it belonged to. It wasn't until the mind returned the gesture that she became aware of the sheer vastness it possessed.

[**I am Arceus**.]

%%%%

It was still early in the morning when Mike left his house; the sun hadn't even completely come up over the horizon. He, David, and Kisha had agreed to take the eight o'clock train, but it was quite a hike for Mike. The train was on the other side of town for him and his parents didn't have the time to drive him. He had enough money to last him a few days and he heard that there are special places you can go to to battle for money. While he was collecting his dough he was pleased to see that the hiding spots for them were still there, in which he also kept his old and broken watches he had gotten for Christmas presents throughout the years. They were all made of gold and he was sure he could sell them in times of need.

He began to walk in the direction of the train station when he felt a peculiar sensation. It reminded him of when he and Ralts 'talked' with their minds. He smiled at the memory and wondered if she had changed her mind and was coming to find him.

Immediately, he shook the foolish hope out of his head. _Nah. The poor thing has suffered enough. She wouldn't want to hang around some crazy kid like me._

[I wouldn't be so sure about that, Mike.]

He spun around in a flash. About five feet away from him stood a magnificent, but rather bizarre pokemon. Green hair, spindly, ballerina-like legs, and a smile. Mike instantly recognized it as a kirlia, the evolved form of..._no way! _

"Ralts?" he asked in disbelief.

[I am no longer a ralts; I evolved last night.]

"I figured that, but I mean...it's you!"

[Yes, it is.] Kirlia beamed, but almost started when Mike reached out and brought her into a tight but gentle hug.

"That's great, Ra-I mean, Kirlia! I can't wait to tell the others!" His delicious joy suddenly faltered, and Kirlia knew why.

She hesitated, then asked, [May I show them myself?]

Mike gaped and questioned, "You mean...?"

[Yes. I take back my previous refusal. I'd like to travel with you and Kisha and David.] A little sheepishly, she added, [That's alright, isn't it?]

"Are you kidding? They'll be thrilled to have you," Mike himself was thrilled, already. At once, he started running away. "Come on," he called to Kirlia, "we're going to meet David at the train station!"

[Wait,] Kirlia replied, tiptoeing up to him. [I will teleport us there.] And with that she jumped and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Wha-wait!" But she already did it. He saw a flash and the next thing he knew, they were standing in front of David...who was seated on a toilet.

Then came the screams.

%%%%

[I am terribly embarrassed,] Kirlia lamented as they exited the train station's restroom. [I am so sorry, David. I was just trying to teleport to the train station. I can only teleport to people or places I already know, but I didn't think...I didn't mean to come at such an inconvenient time.]

"Inconvenient? Not at all!" David laughed. He was clearly too amused to be angry. "If you're ever going to scare the crap out of me, it might as well be when-"

"OKAY!" intervened Mike. "Too much information, David."

"Well, anyway," said David, still chuckling, "congratulations on your evolution, Kirlia, and thanks for deciding to come with us, but how'd you do it?"

Mike sneered. "Probably like most pokemon do, retard, just battle until they get strong enough to evolve," he said before Kirlia could answer.

Glaring, David replied, "And how could she have done that? It's kind of hard to not think hostile thoughts while you're fighting, you know, her weakness."

_You're telling me, _Kirlia inwardly sighed as she felt their peevish thoughts like weedle stingers drilling into her skull. [Enough,] she said before either of them could say another word. [I shall explain. My evolution was not natural; it was Arceus's doing.]

"Arceus!" Mike and David cried together.

[Yes. I haven't been "cured" or anything, but I can handle emotional stress better than I could before.]

"So you won't get sick if we start fighting or something?" Mike asked hopefully.

[I'll still feel effects, but they won't be nearly as crippling,] she assured, and was rewarded with a wave of relief...and curiosity.

"Not that you don't deserve this, Kirlia, but why did Arceus decide to help you?" David inquired.

_Because...! _[You're asking me how the mind of a God works?] countered Kirlia incredulously.

"Touché."

At that moment, the clock struck eight o' clock, and the train squealed into the station. People boarded and exited, Kirlia and David among the boarders, but Mike hung back, looking over his shoulder. "Where's Kisha?"


	4. Nicknames and News

**Chapter 7**

"Hurry hurry hurry!" Kisha hissed as she rushed down the streets. She just had to sleep in on this important day. It was almost as if fate was working against her. So, on her last leg of wild hope, Kisha found herself in a desperate race against destiny.

So close! She could see the train in the station. _Please stay, please! Just a little longer! _But of course, as soon as she thought that, the train began drifting forward, almost lazily, then getting a little faster.

"Oh no oh no oh nooo!" She cried, picking up her already exhausting pace. Then came the final straw; a jutted piece of sidewalk. Kisha's foot caught on it and she fell flat on her face.

_Get up, get up! _She ordered, but her tired limbs moved so slowly. _I already lost Ralts. I can't lose David and Mike. _She looked up, and he bubbling tears finally spilled over. The train was already picking up speed. "No!" She sobbed weakly. "Don't leave me!"

[We wouldn't dream of it.]

%%%%

Once Kisha got over all the shock of being teleported onto the train by a strange pokemon, thanks to a briefing from her friends, she welcomed Kirlia back with open arms.

"This is great!" she exclaimed, tears of joy now running down her face. "I was going to miss you on this journey. Well, I was going to miss the whole journey if it hadn't been for you."

[It's the least I could do after all you've helped me with,] Kirlia replied.

For the majority of the train ride, the four simply sat in silence, content and relieved that they were all together. Eventually, they got bored, so David found a magazine, and Kisha called out Faye the Prinplup to play with. Mike's mind drifted to his pokemon, what kinds of stuff would be happening in the next town. He snapped back when Kirlia's mind brushed his.

[I must speak to you.] She was serious.

Mike saw that the other two didn't seem to notice. [You mean just me?] He replied with his mind.

[Yes. I must speak to you about why Arceus helped me evolve.]

[I thought you said you didn't know.]

[That was a lie, I confess...] she paused, looking uncomfortable. [Arceus...He knows about you, knows that you're not really of this world. So He asked me to help you return someday...]

Mike froze. [You mean, go back? I... I don't know if I can just go...] The confusion of his first day returned. [I mean...David's in my world, but he's not quite the same David, I think. And I don't want to lose you and Kisha. You two are my friends now...]

Kirlia knew he would say something like that. Not she blamed him. She didn't want him to go anywhere either. [I didn't make a promise to Arceus, nor did he demand one. This isn't a pressing matter, but you still ought to think on it.]

[Please, Kirlia, can we change the subject?]

[You said to me before that this world is much like your 'fan fiction' that you were in the process of making. Perhaps Kisha and I were created from your subconscious,] she suggested. [Perhaps we are based on people from your world.]

[But how is that even possible? If that was the case, it would just prove that none of this is real!]

[Or,] Kirlia continued relentlessly, [it will prove that Arceus can exist in both our worlds. It could be possible that He forged the two of us as we are.]

"Hey, Mike!" David was shaking Mike by his shoulder, "Wake up, man!"

"Huh, Wha?" Mike looked around with a dazed look in his eyes. "Oh, sorry. I couldn't sleep last night. I guess I fell asleep now."

"You had your eyes open," David said slowly.

"Yeah, I do that sometimes," he lied, "don't worry about it. What were we talking about?"

"I was just wondering," Kisha said, "what Kirlia's real name is, if she even has one."

"Oh. Well, technically, Ralts's and Kirlias don't have names. They recognize each other by their 'voices'." explained Mike.

Eyes widening in fascination, Kisha turned to Kirlia and asked, "Is that so?"

[Indeed,] she confirmed, now speaking to everyone again.

David looked unconvinced and said, "Well, we ought to give you a nickname of some kind. We ought to make it look like we have some ownership over you, because if people figure out that you're a wild pokemon, we'd have some trouble. It's nothing personal."

Seemingly downtrodden, Kirlia replied, [I just don't know. A personal name seems...very strange to me. I mean, they make sense for non-psychic species...]

"Just try," urged Kisha. "If you don't like it, we can always go back to calling you Kirlia."

Kirlia still didn't like the idea, but said tentatively, [If I were to agree... what would the 'nickname', as you call it, be?]

There was a long pause as everyone tried to come up with a good name...

Mike came up with the first, "Kelly?"

"Too plain, Mike," David said quickly. "You need to come up with more..." he searched for the term, "elegant names. Veronique, perhaps?"

Kirlia didn't like the idea of being called something so extravagant. [I think a good nickname would be something that describes me,] she inputed carefully.

That's when Kisha snapped her fingers, causing Faye to jump. "I've got it!" She said. "How 'bout Sophia? It's my older cousin's name, but my aunt said it means wisdom, or something. It's perfect, you see?"

[What? No it's-!]

"Hmmm. You're right. It's a nice name too," David nodded. "Mike?"

"Sounds great. What do you think?" he asked Kirlia.

[Now hold on!] she cried, her face turning red. [I'm NOT wise!]

"Doesn't really matter," David replied, shrugging. "You're the only psychic pokemon with us at the moment, so you're at least the wisest among us."

Kirlia remained silent for a while, still blushing. She still dreaded the thought of having a name with such weight, but it made her proud at the same time. [Very well,] she finally said. [I will bear the name to the best of my abilities, for the time being, that is.]

**Chapter 8**

_We are now arriving at Chicago,_ a woman's voice came over the intercom. _Thank you for riding Ninjask Express, the fastest mode of transportation at the best price. We hope you enjoyed your trip, and we hope you turn to us for any more of your transportation needs. Please remain seated until the train comes to a complete stop._

The group got off the train and began to take in the sights, as neither David, Kisha, nor Sophia had been in a big city before. In truth, Mike had been here before with the "other" David, but again, there were some subtle differences between his world and the Pokemon world. Names that used to have animals were replaced with pokemon, advertisements had what was presumably the Elite Four and Gym Leaders among the normal celebrities.

"Hey," Mike said absently, "does anyone remember the names of the Elite Four?"

"Say, what!" shouted David. "How could you forget?"

_Oh no!_ Thought Sophia. He wasn't quite mad, but surprised and annoyed, and she could feel a distinct pressure at the back of her head. It didn't hurt, but she knew it meant a migraine was soon to follow.

When David noticed her cringing, he sighed and tried to keep calm,_ for Sophia's sake_, he told himself. "Their names are Emile Conroy, Kathryn Carrol, Hlin Tási, and Sebastian Wyvern, my Grandpa."

"No way!" Kisha whooped. "You're Sebastian's grandson! No wonder you're so strong!" Despite her joyous praise, David's mood didn't improve much.

"Yeah, okay, sorry," Mike said defensively. "Thanks for jogging my memory. I'll remember this time, I swear."

_Good..._The pressure was still there, but she knew that David had held back an edge to his voice, which would had probably caused a fight. Now she felt a strange sensation coming from David. It was a combination of agitation, distress, and worry. [David?]

He looked at her, "Yes?"

[Is there something wrong?]

"No! No, what would give you that idea?" He saw Sophia look at him as if she wanted to say, _Did you really just ask that? _and he remembered who he was talking to. "Oh, yyyeeeaaah...Psychic pokemon," he said awkwardly.

The others giggled nervously, but Sophia ignored them, and aimed her thoughts so that only David could hear her. [If you want to talk about it, you can think it to me, then only I will hear you.]

David didn't answer right away. He only stared at her then simply said, "Later."

%%%%

At lunch time, the group ate at Panera Bread, which Mike was glad to see was still there. After they finished their meals, David pulled out a thin device. It looked like the Ipod touch from back home.

He was glad when Kisha asked, "What's that?" for him.

"Pokenav, but it's a newer version. You can surf the web and stuff on this one. I was going to check if there are any competitions around here." He turned it on, and it automatically opened the last application he had open as the screen flashed. "TV- Live broadcast!" And the news channel opened.

_Sebastian "Dragon Man" Wyvern passed away last night after a tremendous fight against his mysterious illness for three months..._

"What?" Whispered David. Mike shared the same thought, his sense of deja vu already tingling when her heard the name Sebastian earlier, and now it was getting stronger. The whole group froze.

_He was a brave man with an amazing life full of action packed pokemon battles. His last days saw him still with a proud fighting spirit. At the age of 89, he had a long and happy life. Before he died, he left one last never-before-seen recorded message to the people of the United States of America. We go now to the recording:_

An elderly man appeared on the screen, though he an appeared frail and weak his voice was strong, and his eyes fierce. There was certain elegance about him, like he was a fallen king.

_People of the United States of America: _

_I need not restate the obvious, please do not mourn my death. I have asked the news to run this film the day of or after my death so I could leave a message: use this opportunity! I have spoken with the other Elite Four members and we came to an agreement; we need a new member. So a tournament shall start exactly a week after today. I do not know what the name of the tournament will be, but I do know that it will be huge! Every store will have a new item for sale after I die: a device called the Poketch. This will be your ticket into the tournament. The rules will be explained on a sheet that the Poketch comes with. After that, you're on your own. Good luck, trainers, and good bye._

It was awhile before anyone moved. Kisha looked up at David, her face was full of worry and sympathy. Sophia put her hands on both their shoulders.

_I can't sense anything coming from these two. _She thought. _Please be alri-_

A sudden wave of sorrow, confusion, and helplessness cut off her last thought. David's emotions made her feel like she was drowning, a smothering whirlpool of despair. She struggled to remain conscious, but it only got worse as Mike's emotions hit her: a little confusion, a lot of guilt, but mostly a fiery desire to revolt, to reject this reality, to leave this world or to disappear from existence.

"This can't be happening..." Both Mike and David groaned.

Mike put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I-I'm sorry. I truly am sorry."

David didn't answer. He got up and rushed out of the restaurant.


	5. Angst City

**Chapter 9**

After nearly an hour of wandering aimlessly, David found an empty school park, surrounded by a wall with black metal spikes along the top._ I wonder if I can rest there, _he thought distantly. He was walking close to the wall, half purposely bumping into it occasionally. Before he reached the end, he heard someone talking. He couldn't see who it was, since there was a clump of trees cutting off his vision, but it didn't matter. He didn't think he could deal with anyone at the moment, so he turned around, starting to walk away. Before he could leave earshot, though, he caught the words, "finally dead."

He ran back, listening to the people talking from around the corner.

"You have to hand it to him though." A different voice from before. "That poison is supposed to be able to kill anyone in a week, and he made it three months."

_Grandpa first got ill three months ago!_

David realized that the voices were getting closer. He climbed over the wall, careful not to rustle the bushes, but peaked though the line of metal spokes.

Three black hoodies bustled past. Looked like ordinary gangsters, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that they were much more than petty criminals. Oh, if only I could see their faces, David thought loathingly.

"But now that he's gone, we can start the plan, right?" said the first one.

"Right, and after all's said and done, we'll get the next elite sucker, until our members fill all the places and have the US under our thumb."

Seething by this point, it took all of David's willpower to hold back some pretty deadly swears. He couldn't believe it! Not only had these psychopaths killed his Grandpa, they were apparently rigging his final wish for their own selfish purposes! He bit his tongue, but a word slipped out despite himself. "...Bastards..."

"Shit! Someone's here!" one of the hoodies hissed.

He ducked, but he knew it was too late. He heard a pokeball popping open and "quick attack." He saw a shadow leap at him from above, and before he could grab his pokeball, he was out cold.

%%%%

Sophia blinked in alarm. [He's gone?]

Kisha and Mike stopped and looked back at her. "What do you mean, Sophia?" She asked nervously.

[I was tracking David by his conscious mind, but it suddenly vanished,] she explained, trying to hold her shivering back. Their worry was chilling her. [It means he either fell asleep very quickly, or he was knocked out. He may even be...]

Bad move. Not only was her skin crawling into heart from the increased bewilderment, there was sharp stab of denial and rage. "He's not dead." Mike interrupted bluntly.

"That's right!" Kisha piped in. "Who'd kill him? But how are we going to find him now?"

Sophia closed her eyes. [I think...I know the direction before he faded out. We'll go there and figure it out.]

They walked on in silence, but Mike was still seething from the suggestion that David was...Sophia shook her head, still feeling the spikes of his anger, and the fog of guilt. Why guilt? It was getting stronger by the second. So strong, Sophia realized with a little gasp, she could almost see the faint, shimmery cloud surrounding him, like a mirage. Never had she heard of anyone, even Elder Gallade, being able to see emotions. She floated a little closer, and flinched at the sudden wave of screaming thoughts. It's my fault, it's my fault, it's my fault!

She clutched her head in pain. [Mike, stop!] She cried to him. [Please, don't think like that!]

He didn't respond. Not a good sign.

[Mike!] She tried harder. [Listen to me! You must!] She felt her thoughts almost bouncing off the wall of mist.

"Sophia?" Kisha asked, observing the sweating kirlia. "Do you want us to leave you alone? You don't look so good..."

Sophia ignored her, focusing all her energy into one final attempt to connect. [Let...me...IN!]

One whoosh later, she was in.

%%%%

Sophia blinked. Where in the world was she? It was clammy, cold, so foggy she could barely see in front of her. But what little she could make out were ruins, toppled houses and unfriendly buildings. The dim scream over the fog, though silent, continued relentlessly. [It's my fault, it's my fault!] It was Mike.

With a start, Sophia realized where she must be. A psycho field of some kind. A look into the recesses of one's mind. As a ralts, Sophia was never allowed to enter one. And for good reason, too. She would have been destroyed by this onslaught. But she was stronger now, and despite the weight of the mist nearly crushing her, she was able to concentrate on her own mind. _Stay focused_. She sent a quick prayer of thanks to Arceus.

[Mike,] she finally called out. [Calm down, Mike, please. You have no reason to think like this.]

[Yes I do!] He roared silently. [This is my stupid fan fiction world, right? I could have stopped his death! I...I had a dream about that news report the morning I came here. I could have stopped it! I had the power, and I...I blew it!] Sophia was surprised that Mike had experienced this premonition, but more than that, extremely impressed at this human's strength to hold these emotions in.

[Mike, it's not your fault,] Sophia assured. [You can't hold yourself responsible for what happened to David's grandfather. He got sick three months ago, and you had that dream when you arrived, the day before yesterday or so. You couldn't have...]

[But I could have stopped it! I could have...I don't know, made him get better, but I was so wrapped up in this stupid Pokemon stuff and having fun that I didn't even think about it. All it would have taken was a thought, but I...]

Sophia thought carefully. [Whether or not you could have controlled the death is uncertain, but in any case, how could you have known that news report hadn't already occurred? If you thought it had already happened, of course you didn't think of preventing it!]

The yells became stutters. The fog cleared ever so slightly. [I...I hadn't thought of that...]

[You're not a murderer,] persisted the kirlia, knowing that she was making some ground. [You never would have let this happen on purpose. You didn't even know that Sebastian was David's grandfather.]

[That's true,] Mike muttered. [The David from my world never mentioned his grandpa.] The mist lifted a little bit more. [I still feel rotten, but I guess that helped a little. Thanks, Sophia.]

%%%%

Mike stirred. A dream? He hadn't even remembered falling asleep. Or maybe Sophia had actually been speaking with him, since she seemed so much like herself in that vision. But why had he fainted then? And who on Earth was carrying him!

As if in response to that thought, he fell onto the pavement with a hard thud. He was wide awake now, and found himself staring into the face of a stuffy-looking prinplup.

"Faye! Why'd you...!" Kisha started, then realized that Mike and the kirlia she held in her arms were awake. "Oh, are you two alright? You just passed out suddenly! I got scared and was trying to take you to the hospital."

"Thanks, but we're fine now," Mike replied, getting to his feet slowly. Sophia also floated upright.

Kisha didn't look convinced, though. "Are you sure? We should still see a doctor or something, and what about Sophia...?"

Kisha, please drop the subject for now. I promise we're alright, Sophia told her privately.

She opened her mouth, but couldn't find the words. She just nodded, and didn't bring it up again, but she recalled Faye. They walked along for almost an hour before, at long last, coming to the wall of an elementary school. Sophia stopped.

That's it, she said, looking around nervously. This is where I lost him.

"He's gotta be around here somewhere," Mike insisted. "Keep looking around."

%%%%

"You sure this is a good idea?"

"Of course! If he doesn't drown, he'll starve, or the grimers will eat him. Maybe twenty years from now, they'll find his bones. Completely untraceable."

"That's not what I meant. I mean, is it right to kill him? He's just a kid."

"He's also a witness; we've got to get rid of him, and fast, before he wakes up."

"Oh, c'mon Steve, let 'im go! No matter how much he heard, who's gonna believe him?"

"Do you really want to risk everything for the sake of some random kid you've never even seen before?"

"Hmmm, now that you mention it, he does look kind of familiar."

"Yeah. I have seen him somewhere before..."

"Stop being so sentimental, you two! Just throw him in the damn sewer or I'll have your paychecks!"

"Fine, fine!"

"Uh...alright, but I don't feel good about this."

"You'll get over it."

*Splash!*


	6. Unhappy Reunion

**Chapter 10**

The clock stuck ten before the three friends finally gave up for the night. [I'm truly sorry, but I cannot hold my concentration any longer,] Sophia's voice dripped with fatigue.

"Yeah," agreed Kisha, rubbing an eye and yawning heavily.

Although he was worried, Mike couldn't help smiling. She reminded him of his little brother, who was currently at camp. He sighed, looked around one last time and said, "Alright, I think I know a hotel we can stay at."

Sophia could tell that Mike wanted to keep looking, but she felt sympathy overcome his guilt and frustration. [Thank you, Mike,] she "whispered" to him.

He smiled at her but didn't say anything. As they walked to the hotel, he noticed Kisha beginning to stumble. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, just tired." Her eyes drooped despite her efforts to keep them open. "Don't worry, I'll be fine in the morning."

_What a trooper,_ he thought. "C'mon, kiddo." He picked her up and put her on his back, ignoring the protests. She didn't complain long though, and soon she fell asleep on his back. He walked in silence, trying to calm his mind. He and Sophia exchanged only a few short thoughts, mostly about how far it was.

When they finally reached the hotel, the manager happened to see them. Sophia sensed a big heart in this man, but she didn't have to tell the others since he offered them a room at half price. "That's nice sir, but it really isn't necessary," Mike assured.

"Oh, but I must! And you must be tired after carrying your little sister."

Mike didn't have the energy to argue or correct him. He accepted the keys and allowed himself to be lead to a room on the first floor. A simple, but clean, room, two beds and a bath. He put Kisha in one of the beds (where Sophia joined her), put the backpacks on the floor, turned out the lights, and was asleep before he hit the mattress.

%%%%

Most of the night was eventless. They all needed a rest, and Mike really needed to unwind. But at some point in the night, Mike began to stir. He felt something, though he didn't know what, was crushing him. It almost felt like Sophia's mind when she tried to contact him, but this mind was much more powerful. Finally he awoke with a start...

In the dark room, he saw a silhouette against the city lights. He reached for his pokeballs, but before he could call out a pokemon a voice called out.

[**That won't be necessary.**] It was a booming voice that filled his head and thoughts. He put down the pokeballs cautiously, not wanting to raise the ire of something this powerful. [**Don't worry, I won't be long, Mike.**]

[How do you know me?] He asked.

[**Must you really ask?**] A slight amusement touched the thing's voice.

It took Mike a few seconds to finally recognize the silhouette. [A...Arceus?]

[**Yes, Mike. I must speak to you**.]

For a while, Mike didn't know how to respond. _How am I supposed to respond to the God of Pokemon? _He gathered his thoughts and composed them in the most polite way he could think of. [Yes, sir. What about?]

[**My first order of business is to correct a false thought of yours. Sebastian's death was not your doing. I merely sent you a vision of what was to come.**]

Relief flooded Mike until it made him dizzy. He basked in it for a while before it struck him: _I must have hurt Sophia with my "tantrum" earlier._

Arceus sensed his realization and said, [**If you apologize later, I'm sure she will forgive you. She has a good heart.**] He said it with the affection of a father and looked at Sophia. [**She is very proud of the name Kisha gave her, and it will do her well when she tries to live up to it.**] He looked back at Mike. [**Now I must tell you my other reason for coming,**] Mike didn't answer but sat up a bit straighter. [**I will no longer be assisting you.**]

[Assisting? You mean...]

[**Yes. I made Sophia evolve so she could go with you. You know that, but I've been helping out in other ways. I made sure David, for one thing, didn't die when you lost track of him.**]

[Well, thanks a lot,] Mike said, again relieved, this time for his friend. [But...why did you help us in the first place? And why are you stopping?]

[**Many reasons,**] Arceus replied offhandedly, [**but as far as your concerned, this is why: Something big is going down in this country, and you, David, Kisha, and Sophia are at the center of it. The key is in the tournament. As for why I'm not going to help you anymore, I've got things to do in your world.**]

Mike blinked. [My world!] He cried. [Why...?]

[**For one thing, what do you think happened to the Mike you replaced here?**]

Without another word, Arceus departed.

%%%%

"Uuuaah..." David put his hand on his head, which was now pounding with every heart beat. Around him, complete darkness, a clammy chill and an ugly smell in the air. His clothes were soaked, but something heavy and dry covered him. In the distance, he could hear running water.

Where was this? What on earth HAPPENED? Forcing himself to think back, he suddenly remembered the news report...

_...Oh yeah, Grandpa's dead._ He sobbed, but forced himself to move on for now. There'd be plenty of time to be sad later. Hopefully.

What next? He remembered walking, he remembered getting really, really angry...yes, so mad that now he was even angrier that he had forgotten the reason. It couldn't have just been the death, something else...something he just knew was important. Try as he might, though, he couldn't get it back. "Damnit!" He muttered, slamming his fist into...a blob.

He removed his hand hurriedly. What was that? It couldn't be the floor, he was lying on it and it was hard as rock. At that moment, a flickering orange light entered the room, revealing the face of the the thing.

A muk.

"HIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAA!" David released an almighty yell, startling the muk and causing it to slither away cautiously. Behind him, something was chuckling. "What! Who! Where!"

"Easy, easy there, kid," Said a, thankfully, human voice. David spun around and saw an old man and a soaked raticate standing there, holding a lantern. He was wearing a ragged T-shirt and jeans, all dripping wet, and looked old, judging by his gray beard. _Not as old as Grandpa...was, _David though with a pang. "These yours?" the man said as he tossed a three pokeballs at him.

David caught them. Squinting in the low light, and saw his three pokemon inside the pokeballs. "Yeah, how'd you find them?"

"Well," said the man as he settled down next to his still cautious muk, "finding your Zangoose was easy, I just swam up to it and grabbed it. the other two were a bit more of a problem, their pokeballs sunk like rocks." He reached for a filthy towel that was on the floor and started to dry himself.

David was listening but not understanding. "Wait, how'd they get in the water?"

"They fell off you're belt when those thugs tossed you into the sewer," the man replied calmly. He took a big coat that was also on the floor. As he put it on he put his back to the wall and heaved a huge sigh, whispering to himself, "That's better."

"Thugs?" That word sent little red flags up in his mind, but he couldn't tell why.

"Yeah," he said sleepily as his raticate curled up next to him. "Look, I need some rest, and so do you. We'll talk more in the morning." He yawned and blew out the lantern.

David was silent, but only because he was so confused. There was something nagging in the back of his mind, like he had to tell the police something. But what was it? He fell asleep with these thoughts, and dreamed images he couldn't understand.

%%%%

Mike woke at day break. He got up and searched his room for a sign of Arceus. He really wanted to have some kind of physical proof that he had seen Arceus. Or maybe it was a dream. But would that mean it didn't really happen? Mike looked over at Kisha and Sophia, both still asleep. Was any of this really happening? _Maybe this whole thing is a dream, and I'm going to wake up from it and maybe forget it... I don't want to forget. _He saw Sophia stir as he walked up to the bed.

[Mike? What's the matter? Why are you up already?]

[I'm sorry.]

Sophia blinked. [Sorry? For what?]

[I know I hurt you when I was throwing my tantrum yesterday.]

She smiled. [There's nothing to be sorry about. I knew when I decided to come that I was going to endure the emotions of others. I have the handicap that makes you worry about me.]

Mike paused. [Thanks...] Then, not knowing what to say, he finally asked, [Can you sense anything?]

She closed her eyes and was quiet for awhile. Suddenly, without warning she yelled, [I've found him!]

**Chapter 11**

David woke up without knowing where he was, it was dark and wet and smelled of... sewer. _What a lovely day this is going to be,_ he thought with a sigh. Again, he traced his memory, but the was still a gap between the time he left Panera to when he woke up. It was still black as sin down there, but he could still hear the snoring of his savior from last night. "Hey! Hey man, wake up." He called.

The old man muttered in his sleep a little bit but didn't acknowledge him.

"Seriously man, I want to know what's going on!"

The man groaned but roused himself from his deep sleep. He lit a match and looked at a old watch on his wrist. "Oh, c'mon kid, it's five o'clock in the morning. Go back to sleep," he said as he tried to settle back down.

"What happened?" persisted David. "Why am I here, man?"

"Okay, first of all," he growled in annoyance, "my name's Robert, or Bob, but not 'man'. Second, why can't you wait until morning?"

David cried, "But I'm traveling with some friends, and they're probably worried sick by now."

"Alright, alright."

%%%%

_He was wandering through a bleak cave, following a river. He had to find a way out, but the tunnel just kept going lower and lower. Why couldn't he just turn around and go back? He finally looked over his shoulder and gasped as giant, slimy, purple hand grabbed him. Squeezed him. When it opened again, a skeleton clattered to the floor, white as snow..._

Asen woke with a start, panting. His swellow also jerked up when she heard her trainer, and gave him a questioning look. Slowly, his heart regained a normal pace, and he felt the tension leave his muscles. He smiled and stroked Swellow's head, saying, "Just a bad dream." She eased herself too. Still, there was a throbbing thought at the back if his mind. He wasn't sure if he could get over what he did to the kid.

Just then, though, his treecko walked in with breakfast, some fruit stolen from the market across the street. He dropped the food by the bed, picked up an apple and started munching. Asen didn't feel too hungry at the moment. Instead, he got up and looked out the window._ I wonder if that kid is alive... _he shook his head, _I should be afraid if he survived because then there could be consequences_.

Hank walked into the room at the moment. "What's wrong with you?"

Asen made no reply.

"You're not still moping about what happened yesterday, are you?" He growled. "When did you turn into such a pussy?"

Something clicked in Asen. He was usually a thoughtful person; patient and slow to retaliate. When he sicked Treecko on the boy from last night, it was for protection. Otherwise, he never attacked without due provocation. _But that doesn't make me a pussy... _he thought, _it's just how I am. _He turned around slowly and said in a low, dangerous voice. "Call me that again and you'll regret it."

"Right," he said sarcastically, "have it your way." Then he spat under his breath, "Pansy."

Asen dashed forward and threw a punch aimed for Hank's head, who caught and deflected the blow, then threw a punch of his own. The punch landed squarely in the jaw and Asen stumbled back a couple steps before hitting Hank in the chest with a roundhouse kick. After regaining his footing Hank tackled Asen and the two began to wrestle until Steve walked into the room.

"BREAK IT UP, YOU CLOWNS!"

They both jumped into attention. Usually, Steve had a bit of a monotone, and his voice was always emotionless. But whenever he got angry, one could hear rage in his voice that was like a gunshot: loud, and full of power. Needless to say, he was the leader of their group. Even the pokemon, who hadn't moved throughout the whole fight, flinched at the voice.

"Hank," Steve's voice resumed it's familiar monotone, yet Hank still stood a little straighter at the mention of his name, "I seem to recall you having second thoughts about throwing the boy in as well." Hank looked like he was about to protest but thought better of it. "And Asen, I suggest you shape up and leave your petty regrets behind, because if you don't, you'll never make it among the ranks of Team Blight."

%%%%

"Wait, Sophia," Kisha suddenly questioned, "why aren't we teleporting to where David is?"

[I do not want to risk it. If it turned out that David was kidnapped, we'll be in the hands of the kidnappers*.]

"But couldn't you just-" she began to protest again.

"No, Kisha," Mike cut her off, but not harshly. "It's too dangerous, and it's not worth the risk."

[Thank you, Mike,] nodded Sophia. [I just-] Suddenly, she gasped fell to the ground.

"Sophia!" Mike picked her up and saw that she was completely unconscious. What could have... He looked up and saw a middle aged woman in a business suit walking towards them. She was glaring at something behind him. When he turned, he realized she was looking right at Kisha, whose face had just gone pale.

The woman stopped a few paces away from them, still staring daggers at Kisha. Mike felt his arm get wet and realized Sophia was sweating feverishly. He swore under his breath. Had to get her away...but couldn't leave Kisha behind. _What to do what to do what to do..._

The woman finally spoke. "Kisha," her voice was venomous. "I never thought I would see you again. How are you and that miserable excuse for a man you call 'daddy'?" she asked mockingly.

That seemed to strike a cord with Kisha, as she yelled back, "He's more of a man that you'll ever know, _hag!_" She was still pale but the way she said hag made Mike gasp. He stared at her, wondering if this was the same child that he had helped before.

The woman was also taken aback by the insult but quickly recovered. "Why you ungrateful, little..." she advanced, but Mike stepped between them. "Move it kid, this is family business, it doesn't concern you."

_Family?_ "It does now," replied Mike, careful to keep his voice in check. He met her glare with an equally venomous stare and put a hand on one of his pokeballs, making it very clear that he wasn't afraid to use it. The woman's face went beat red with rage, but she stomped away, shouting threats over her shoulder.

After she disappeared from sight, Mike turned to Kisha, who was now wobbling to him. "Thanks Mike," she sounded like she had just ran a marathon. She stumbled and caught herself on him, and he noticed her trembling. "I'm not sure what she would have done if you weren't here."

"Who is she?" Mike asked, already knowing the answer.

"My m-mother."


	7. Sophia has a Smoothie

David and Bob were silent as they walked down the tunnel walkway. Raticate skittered along before them while muk oozed after. It had been like this for five minutes now as they walked down the tunnel. Finally, to break the awkward silence, David asked, "What's for breakfast?"

"Dead and I will go fishing in a bit," he replied coolly.

"Dead?"

"My raticate, and this," pointing to muk, "is Socks." The muk gave a weary smile, seeming to be slow to trust. Dead, however, was quite the opposite. When it woke up, it came up to David, sniffed him, and since then was as affectionate towards him as with Bob.

"How'd those names come about?" David couldn't fathom why one would choose names like that for their Pokemon.

"Well, when I first found Dead, I thought he was just that. I saw him get hit by a truck, the bastard didn't even stop afterwards, and I thought for sure he was a goner. And Socks got his name because he kept trying to eat my socks. He still tries from time to time." He chuckled.

After another awkward silence David looked up at a grate above him. Sunlight blazed through like white stripes, teasing him. "How much longer?" he asked, feeling a little impatient by their walk.

The old man whistled. "Got a couple 'nother hours of walking, then we'll have to swim through an underwater tunnel into the river."

"That's long."

"Well, that's just the way it is, kid."

"I'm David, by the way," David informed while pulling out his skarmory's pokeball. "And I've got a faster idea..."

%%%%

[She caught me completely off guard,] explained Sophia while rubbing her head. She had just woken up and now they were continuing their walk. [It felt much like getting hit on the head with something heavy.]

"I'm sorry, Sophia," Kisha sighed. "It's my fault. She was angry at me."

Sophia smiled, replying, [No apology necessary. You can't control that sort of thing.]

"What happened between you and her?" Mike blurted unthinkingly. Then, politely, added, "Not that it's any of my business..."

Kisha made no reply, but luckily, the awkward silence was averted by Sophia.

[Wait.] Her eyes suddenly opened wide. She began to look around quickly. [David...He's here!]

The other two looked around, too, but he was nowhere in sight. Finally, Mike asked "Sophia, are yo-"

There was a boom behind him, and when he turned around he saw a sewer grate cover had been blown off. He looked up...Sophia felt the sweet wash of relief as they saw David being carried by Skarmory. He landed a few paces in front of the group.

"DAVID!" They cried, too excited to notice Skarmory diving back into the sewer.

Mike punched David on the shoulder. "You had us worried sick!" He sniffed then quickly grabbed his nose. "You stink!"

"And you suck," countered David.

"I'm sorry, but you really stink!" Mike began to fan the air. "What were you doing in the sewer?"

"Ask this guy." He pointed behind him and Mike saw a ragged man being dropped by Skarmory, next to a raticate and a muk.

"What the heck?"

%%%%

A few explanations later over some smoothies at Dairy Queen. Bob introduced himself and explained how he found David. "So...you're telling us that someone just threw David into the sewer for no good reason?" Kisha asked incredulously.

"No, there was a reason," said David, "I think I had seen them do something. But I can't remember." He held his head as he tried harder to recall what happened, in vain again. "I know that the upcoming tournament, you know, the one my grandpa..." he swallowed. "It's much more important than I first thought."

"That's what Arceus said..." Mike muttered unthinkingly.

David started and cried, "What did you say?"

Mike and David stared at each other in total silence. Bob and Kisha, who hadn't heard what Mike had said, were watching curiously.

"N-nothing!" said Mike defensively. "I didn't say anything." Then to Sophia he thought, [Help me out here.]

The response was, to say the least, unexpected. [This-"smoothie"-is-very-good-it-has-a-very-curious-taste!] The whole thought came out quickly and unbroken so it was hard to understand. She took a big gulp, then suddenly clutched her head in pain. [Owowowowow!]

Mike glanced back at the others. They had apparently also heard her sugar-induced tangent and were quite surprised by it. A few seconds passed, then they all burst out laughing.

Sophia blushed. [HEY! DON'T LAUGH AT ME!] This obviously made them laugh even more. [Mike!] She whined.

After Mike was able to recover himself he said, "I'm sorry Sophia, but that was so dang... God, I don't know, funny? Cute? Whatever it was, we loved it."

Sophia was about to say something but stopped. She found herself smiling, an uncontrollable giddiness swelled insider her. She examined the feelings of her companions and realized that all the tension, worries, and stress had been drowned out by pure mirth.

"Anyway," David continued. "No matter what happens, I'm definitely joining the tournament." His voice grew serious again. "I must honor my grandfather, but more than that...I want to get to the bottom of this." Mike knew by the way David looked at him that he wanted to say something else. _Luckily though, David's a good friend. He knows I wouldn't hide anything without a good reason. _Mike knew that David would probably bring it up again some time when they were alone, but now the conversation turned to who was going to the tournament.

"I want to go too!" Piped in Kisha. "I'll help you guys out in any way I can."

[I'll gladly fight by any one of your sides!] Sophia declared bravely.

Mike looked at the same creature who, as a ralts, could barely stand being near violent people. "You sure you're ready for that kind of thing?"

[No,] she admitted, then lit up a little. [A little practice, though, and I could be a sufficient fighter, I'm sure.]

Suddenly, Bob spoke up. "If you kids don't mind buying me into the tournament, I'd like to help you out too." He glowered a little, and added. "If this tournament has any connection with David's recent swim, I'd also like to get to the bottom of this."

"Um, no offense, sir, but..." Kisha started, but David cut her off.

"I owe you for saving me, so sure." Then, still looking a little suspiciously at Mike, asked, "I'm sure you're going join too, right."

Grinning, Mike replied, "Of course I am! I wouldn't miss this for anything!" A little meekly, he added, "I mean, it's really important, so..."

At that moment, Bob lifted his half empty smoothie glass solemnly. "Shall we...?"

Sophia gulped. The sadness, but also a quiet, soulful acceptance rang from David as he also raised his glass. "To Sebastian Wyvern," he said, voice cracking a little. "Best Grandpa ever."

"To the tournament," announced Mike.

"To pokemon," Bob spoke.

"To Sophia," Kisha said. To the pokemon's burning blush, she responded, "What? You really were the one who brought us together."

[In...in that case...] Sophia replied, raising her glass now. [To Arceus.]

%%%%

It was a miracle. Nothing short.

Shirin had been stalking the gallade for only an hour, watching his movements through binoculars. The graceful creature had already taken down a small pack of mightyenas, despite the type disadvantage. She needed that pokemon. After losing the ralts and hearing about the tournament, she thanked her lucky stars that she had decided to walk to the train station and find this beauty.

"Alright, Crystal," she whispered to the sableye on her shoulder, "when he reaches the river, Mean Look his ass, and keep him busy till I get there." Crystal grinned and ran off through the trees.

_No way that gallade can beat my pokemon. _Shirin thought proudly. _...but just in case_. She called out Cut-throat. "Watch Sableye's back." She then chased after the pokemon ahead, losing them through the trees. But when she came to the clearing beside the river, an unbelievable sight met her eyes.

Cut-throat lay on the ground, passed out, and blood leaking from his mouth. Shirin looked up and saw the gallade swinging wildly at Crystal, black afterimages tracing his strikes. "Gallade is using Night Slash? Is that even possible?" The sableye couldn't seem to be able to do anything but stumble back as, blow by blow, Gallade made sure she wouldn't get up again. Shirin swore under her breath and recalled her two defeated pokemon. She looked at Gallade with a combination of annoyance and awe at his power.

Gallade walked up to Shirin, who considered running, but the way Gallade approached told her that there was no aggression behind it. He stopped several feet from her and bowed. [You're their trainer, right? Thank you for that fight. It was the toughest I've had all day.]

Shirin flinched at the sound of a voice in her head. She looked around but only Gallade was there. "Was that you?" Gallade straightened and nodded. Then the words sunk in and Shirin swelled with pride. "Well thanks, I've been training them a lot."

Gallade studied her for a second and asked, [Because you lost?]

A spark of anger flashed as she felt a blow to her pride. Normally she would have replied with a rude remark and a shove, but she decided that wasn't the wisest thing to do to those killer blades. "Yeah..." she simply growled. "But I was so close! If that other guy hadn't interfered, I woulda still had that ralts!"

Gallade's eyes narrowed slightly. [A ralts? That's what you were fighting over?]

"Yeah, and it wasn't even worth it," she chatted, forgetting that she was talking with an evolution of that very pokemon. "The dumb thing kept fainting for no good reason."

[Do you know where she is now?] Gallade persisted, looking even angrier.

"Why? Do you know her?" Gallade nodded. "Well, she's probably with the assholes who took her." She thought for a second. "They left town a couple days ago."

[Can you help me find them?]

This surprised Shirin a bit, but she grinned devilishly. "I won't do it for free. Perhaps we can work out some kind of trade?" When the Gallade didn't answer, she continued. "You see, there is this tournament I want to get into, and I'm sure those guys will also enter it. Rather than go searching, why not wait for fate to force us together? Who knows, it might be faster than trying to chase them down. Of course, you'll have to agree to be my pokemon." She took out a pokeball.

Gallade returned the grin. [Accepted.] For a moment, Shirin saw smugness in that smile, a look of knowing something that she didn't. But before she could say anything else, Gallade pushed the button, the ball opened, and he allowed himself to be 'caught'.


	8. Trades and Tribulations

A/N: Dang, that was one hell of a writer's block!

%%%%

Slowly, groggily, Sophia came to. [What happened? Where are we?]

Mike, exasperated, looked down at the pokemon in his arms. "You had one monster sugar rush and then crashed. I told you you had too many smoothies."

[They were good though,] Sophia muttered while floating upright and taking in her surroundings. They were in a stadium of some sort, a finely cut grassy field sprinkled with hundreds of small, purple booths. Each one was crowded with a long line of trainers. Some pokemon spared playfully with each other off to the side, but most were in there pokeballs. (Including Dead and Socks: David had bought some pokeballs for Bob.)

[So, what is this place now?] asked Sophia.

"Where the directions in the card told us to go," David answered casually. "The sports stadium."

Kisha, glancing nervously about at the booths, wondered, "Which one should we go to?"

Bob looked around, then casually got in line for the nearest one. "They all look the same, but if I'm wrong," he told the others, "They can point me in the direction of the right booth."

They waited for a long time. David tried to play a game on his Pokenav, but it had been completely ruined by the sewer water. "Better get a new one soon," he muttered while tossing it into a nearby waste basket. "Mom's probably been trying to call me for ages."

Mike was getting more and more bored by the second, so he started people watching. He saw kids and adults alike, most he had never seen before, of course, but what was surprising was that he recognized some fellow students from his school, including...

...Lisa Soutch. She was a blue-eyed blonde with a freckled nose. Tall and fair, like a Tolkein Elf, minus the pointy ears. She was silent, as usual, but also smiled into the distance, as if laughing at some private joke while waiting in the line.

Mike froze at the sight of her. Should he talk to her? He had never done that before. He didn't want to lose his place in line either. Maybe afterward, he'd try to find her, but that would be hard. And even if he succeeded, what was he supposed to say? He wasn't even sure if she was the same as the Lisa from his world. Still, he didn't want to just do nothing...

Sophia, meanwhile, started to feel a strange buzz and looked around. Where's that coming from? she thought until she felt the usual confused waves emitting from Mike. Oh, dear she sighed, poor boy, it seems he has too much on his plate right now...

Then she felt herself blush and she looked back at Mike, who was also blushing while staring at some human girl. It was then she realized what was going on. _Oh brother,_ she thought irritably, _humans and their hormones._

"Mike!" Kisha's exclamation snapped them both out of their respective stupors. "C'mon! It's your turn!"

"Oh...sorry." He and Sophia stepped in front of the booth. The man there seemed very tired, asking for his name, address, and other such personal info in a monotone voice.

"And yo' buddy over there is covering yo' entry fee," he said, pointing a thumb at David who, having already gone through the line, was standing on the side of the booth, "so all that's left is the Poketch." He had been typing on a computer this whole time, and now he hooked up a large wristwatch to it, pushed a few more buttons, then handed it to Mike. "That's what you'll use to confirm that you're a participant. This card has all the information about the first round. Have, fun, Mich."

Mike didn't feel like correcting the bored guy who was just doing his job, so he thanked him instead and joined David with Sophia while Kisha signed up. "Thanks for paying for all of us, David," Mike couldn't help saying.

"No problem. It wasn't that much," David replied. "I'm more worried about this upcoming round."

"What's the matter?"

"Read it."

Mike obeyed, and read:

_Double Destiny - Chicago, Illinois - 2 pokemon - A week prior to this stage, (from June 16 to June 23,) registered trainers must submit a team of 2 pokemon. (Bring them in the official Double Destiny Case which can be attained at Pokemarts if you show the storekeeper your Poketch.) This team will be randomly traded with another participant's. For a period of 2 weeks, each trainer will be assigned three double battles, and points will be rewarded for their victories between the trading participants. 0-2 points, both trainers are out, 4-6 points, both pass. At 3 points, the pokemon are given back to the original trainers and they have a double battle. The winner moves on._

"Aw man!" Mike exclaimed indignantly. "This means I don't get to use MY pokemon!"

David shrugged. "It's not so bad. I'm just a little worried about Kisha. Didn't she say she only has Faye?"

"Oh yeah," Mike said thoughtfully. When Kisha finished signing up, he called, "Do you know where you're going to get a second pokemon?"

"What?" She frantically read the rules on the card and replied, trembling, "I...I didn't think I'd need one so soon."

[Well, that's not too big a deal. I'll volunteer!] Sophia offered.

Raising an eyebrow, Mike asked, "That's nice of you and all, but...when's the last time you won a battle?"

She paused. [Well, there was that one...wait, no, Elder Gallade saved me...but then there was this shroomish...oh no, my kirlia friend did most of the work...] Now she was blushing. [None, I guess...]

"Don't worry," Mike smiled, patting her back. "We'll toughen you up, but you're not gonna be ready for this round."

[But what about Kisha...?]

"Simple," David remarked. "In fact, I don't know why I hadn't thought of this before. I happen to have three tough pokemon." He called out Zangoose, Bastiodon, and Skarmory. "Take your pick."

"Well, it's Faye's choice, really." Kisha called her penguin out and explained the situation. Faye looked upon the group with general apathy at first, but then started chatting with Skarmory, and finally squawked while pointing a wing at him.

"You okay with this, Skar?" David asked.

Skarmory nodded, so David recalled his pokemon and handed Kisha the pokeball.

"Wow, I don't know what to say...thanks for all the help, David!"

%%%%

Mike couldn't believe his rotten luck. He sat sound on a rock with an angry "HUFF!" and glared at his two pokeballs.

Earlier, they took turns showing their Pokemon: David went first. He got a swellow and a treecko. They didn't seem to be much at first glance, but the treecko had an everstone hanging around his neck, and he and the swellow seemed very close to each other.

Next Bob, whose new lucario and arcanine were oohed and aahed at. Both were pretty stuffy looking, though.

And then Kisha: Who got a sableye and an aagron. Not just any sableye and aggron, but Shirin's own Crystal and Crush! Mike knew she would be having some trouble getting them to listen to her; they began to walk away as soon as they found out who they were going to be fighting for, but Mike would have gladly accepted that challenge as opposed to the one presented to him now.

Mike sighed heavily, stood up from his rock and called out his two pokemon: A couple of VERY pudgy pidgeys. The instant they came out they began trying to poke the ground around their gargantuan bellies, already looking for food. Mike scowled in disgust, "What kind of idiot trainer do you have?" he asked the birds, who ignored him and continued their search. _Dammit._

Meanwhile, Kisha and Sophia watched Mike from a distance. [He is none too pleased with the pokemon assigned to him...]

"Who would be? I don't think Mike could train these guys to be fighters in a week," said Kisha sadly. She felt Sophia fidget slightly. "Oh! Sorry Sophia, you don't need my drama right now."

[It's alright,] she replied reassuringly, [I can sympathize with you. I want to help Mike as much as you do...]

The two friends sat quietly for a while, lost in there own thoughts. "If only they would evolve or something...maybe we can get some rare candies?"

[There is a reason they are called _rare_ candies.]

"Well, yeah but then how are they supposed to evolve then? It's not like you could feed them anything and make them grow stronger. You'd just end up with a bigger version...of a...pidgey..."

For some reason, sheer, bubbly giddiness radiated from Kisha. Sophia giggled. [What? What are you thinking about?]

Kisha didn't answer but motioned for Sophia to follow her.

%%%%

"Yeah! Hitmonchan! Use thunder punch!"

Magnum improvised slightly by jumping off Bullet's back before landing a devastating thunder punch on Gyarados's jaw. With a scream the pokemon retreated back into the deep ocean. Bullet picked Magnum out of the water and placed him back on the boat.

"That was GREAT!" yelled Hank excitedly. "Man with these pokemon, no one would stand in my way!"

"Hey, man. Cool it!" yelled Asen from the wheel, then lowering his voice so the Pokemon couldn't hear. "You need to lose some, remember?"

"Hey, shut up!" He hissed back. "You think I like being one of the losers? 'Sides, no one could win with the Pokemon I had. The fat ass birds wont stand a chance. I'm gunna have fun for two rounds and then I'll just work these Pokemon so hard before the last round they won't have the energy to fight!" Hank patted Asen's shoulder roughly. "Trust me, everything will go according to plan."

%%%%

"Sophia. Wake up."

Yawning, the kirlia opened her sleepy eyes to the bright, urgent ones of Kisha.

[What's the matter?] she muttered.

[You know,] Kisha replied, able to speak through telepathy now that Sophia was awake. [The plan? I've got the pidgeys.]

Sophia blinked herself awake. [Oh right!] After a bit of preparation, the two left the hotel room.

[Now when we get there, explain EVERYTHING to them.] Kisha instructed on the way. [I feel bad enough about this as it is. Oh, I guess I don't need to tell you that.]

[I understand,] She nodded, putting a hand on Kisha's elbow. [Your dream is to be a doctor. This treatment goes against your studies, from what you've told me.]

[Yes.] She didn't say anything else but Sophia felt her guilt speak for itself

[But Kisha,] said Sophia thoughtfully, [This might not be going entirely against your values.]

[What do you mean!] Kisha thoughts were filled with uncharacteristic annoyance. [I want to make Pokemon healthy, but I'm going to be feeding junk food to already fat pidgeys!]

[Yes but it is in an effort to make them evolve!] replied Sophia with equally unusual aggression. [What your doing is no different from what a munchlax would do to become snorlax]

[But what if it doesn't work? Remember that scientists performed this experiment. What if we're missing a step?] Desperation welled up inside the child as she tried her hardest not to cry. [I only decided to do this to try to help Mike, but what if I'm just making things worse? What if he loses because of me? What if he finds out-]

[ENOUGH!] The force of the thought made Kisha jump. [Kisha, as your friend I cannot allow you to think like this! Your intentions are noble: you wish to help a friend, and this is the only way you know how. And you're not making things worse. I've read the emotions of those pidgeys, they have no desire to get stronger. Mike would need years to get through to them, but if we can make them evolve before he loses all his battles, then maybe they'll like their taste of power and crave more.]

%%%%

It didn't come as a surprise to Mike that he lost the first round, not one bit. He was up against a mamoswine and a camerupt. They didn't stand a chance, thought Mike sadly. _I couldn't make them lose a single pound last week, I think they even gain a few pounds... _Mike stood up from what had become his thinking rock. Every day of the week, since he got these Pokemon, found him there. _If they could do SOMETHING useful I could build on that, _he thought to himself as he watched Kisha polish Crystal's center jewel, but the only thing they seem to be good for is making food disappear.

Kisha giggled when she finished her polishing. "Good as new!" She beamed at the same sableye who, not too long ago, threatened to hurt her. "That nurse did a real good job with your burn but left your jewel all charred, and we can't have that." Crystal grinned, although as with most sableyes, it was hard to tell if it was a happy smile or her default expression. "And you too, Crush," she said as she took out a fresh wet wipe. "Your armor is still way too dirty." The gargantuan metal beast sat very still as she climbed up his side to reach his "helmet" and wipe a particularly stubborn grass stain.

Mike smiled despite his depressing situation. He thought Kisha was going to have a hard time getting those Pokemon to listen to her, _but it took two days to have them eating out of her hands. She's too damn nice, _he chuckled to himself, then stopped when he remembered his problem.

[Mike...] said Sophia tentatively, she had been sitting not too far away, and she was now approaching him.

[How about you take a break? You seem, no, I can feel that you are tired-]

"No I'm not!" he said defensively, "I could run a marathon! I just wish I could transfer that energy to these guys cause-"

[I mean to say that you are emotionally tired of this burden. And you need to alleviate that burden if only for a little so that you can keep you hopes up. Otherwise you might lose the heart to go on...]

Mike didn't respond right away, he looked at the pidgeys again with pity, then finally stood up and said, "Sophia really is the perfect name for you."

[What? Not it's not,] Sophia blushed.

"Yeah it is. What about that advice you gave me just now?"

[That was... I was...] she couldn't think of a response in he flustered state so she let the subject drop. [I'll take the pidgeys to Kisha so you can relax.]

He laughed, "Maybe she can use her magic touch to get them motivated." He paused, "or maybe she'll just give them junk food." Sophia felt a cold electric jolt travel her body, but relaxed slightly as he laughed again. "On second thought, stay right here," Mike said with sudden firmness. "You need training, and those two will at least make good punching bags."

Sophia hesitated. [I would, but you're too angry right now. You're thinking only about punishing them, and that was already received in their recent loss.]

"It didn't get through to them, though!" Mike yelled, but then caught himself. "Okay, okay, you're right. I'm still going to start training you, though."

Sophia smiled and replied, [Now that I'll agree with. How should I start?]

"Um..." now that Punching and Bag (that's what Mike suddenly decided to nickname the pidgeys,) were no longer options, Kisha was busy with her team, and Bob and David were at the stadium at the moment, he was going to have to improvise. "Try attacking me," he finally suggested.

[Never!] she cried in horror.

"You're not that strong, and I've fought pokemon before. I can take it."

The last thing Sophia ever wanted to do was hurt her friend, and said, [I think I could practice without hurting anyone.]

"Sophia, you're going to have to hurt someone if you want to fight, so stop avoiding it." Mike spread out his arms. He was so confident right now, willing, and she knew she wouldn't be able to kill him even if she wanted to. "Come on, already!"

[Fine,] she sighed, closing her eyes.

Mike waited. He wasn't sure what he was waiting for, but he felt a sudden chill come over him, followed by a dizzy spell. However, it was over before he could say, "Woah." He half-glared at Sophia and asked, "Was that really your best?"

[Well, no, but...]

Mike growled, trying to make himself remain calm, but it was clear that his annoyance was getting through to her anyway. Her eyes were squeezed shut this time. [I'll try harder. I'm not weak.] Her voice was considerably...smaller...

_I'MNOTWEAKI'MNOTWEAKI'MNOTWEAKI'MNOTWEAK_

[Mike! Wake up, please!]

Through bleary eyes, Mike saw Sophia, peering over him worriedly. [Oh, thank goodness,] she sighed, helping him to sit up. Wait, he was lying on the ground? He couldn't recall falling. He couldn't remember anything after...THAT.

"I guess that...was pretty good..." Mike breathed.

Still worried and a little embarrassed, she replied, [I don't know what happened exactly. Somehow, I...I think I USED your anger.]

"Huh?"

[I know it's confusing. You frustration was distracting me. I decided to see if I could avert it and...well, before I knew it, I had a considerable blast of energy shooting toward you. You fell and remained quite unresponsive for a few minutes. Seriously, I couldn't feel a thing from you.]

Mike stood up carefully. He felt fine now, but he couldn't stop wondering about what she had just said. "I guess that's not normal for psychic pokemon to do?" he questioned.

Sophia shrugged and said, [Well, I've never heard of it before.]

"Do you think," Mike started, "Arceus gave you that power, or is it just part of your, no offense, 'condition'?"

[I have no idea, but either way,] she responded, [let's practice differently from now on.]

"Agreed."

%%%

Bob was never much of a groomer. Dead sometimes got algae in his fur, which had to be brushed thoroughly to clean. As for Socks, well, he was beyond grooming.

Lucario and Arcanine, however, were hightailed pokemon that refused to do anything unless their fur and claws were perfect. When they fought, they were less concerned with winning than they were about making sure their appearance wouldn't be ruined.

You'd almost think they were cats, the way they preen themselves, he thought while waiting for them to prepare for another training session. Who knew raising another person's pokemon could be so tough. I miss Dead and Socks, but...Despite their uppity nature, the dogs were still dogs. They rolled and panted when he gave them belly rubs, (but would glare at him afterwards if he ruffled their fur too badly,) play fetch, (gingerly carrying the stick by the smallest area they could manage, as if it were some kind of poisonous tentacool,) and were generally loyal and charitable. They had, after all, won him the first round a little while ago.

"C'mon! We've only got a few more levels to go! The battle starts in two hours!"

A short distance away, an annoyed looking girl was desperately ordering two metapods that bumped together lazily. "Ugh! This isn't working!" She growled again, clutching her head in annoyance. "Why did I have to be stuck with these lame pokemon!"

Strange. First Mike with his pidgeys, now this. And earlier, when he heard some guy complaining about bidoofs, another person commented about his weak weedles. And the day before that..come to think of it, he had heard many similar stories. It was a little too silly to be a coincidence. Not that he could much talk with his common raticate, (although he was pretty tough,) it seemed like these undertrained smalltime pokemon were being submitted with those facts in mind. But why would that be happening?

Presently, David happened to be jogging by with his new treecko and swellow following.

"Well, that wasn't much fun. Wurmples," David muttered as he approached. "I hope my next battle is more challenging, because these guys are tougher than they look." The two pokemon looked just as bored.

"Have you noticed, then?" asked Bob?

"What?"

After briefly explaining his earlier revelation, David became lost in thought. "I don't know why, but I can't help thinking that that's true."

Blinking, Bob replied, "Really? I'm not being paranoid?"

Glancing over at the girl still yelling at her metapods, he said, "You wish." But then he shrugged and smiled. "Anyway, speaking of this, how's Mike doing? I haven't seen him for a while."

"Up ahead with Kisha. He said something about training..." his voice trailed off as he noticed Mike, floating about five feet above the trees. "...Sophia."


	9. Strength in Gluttony

Asen kept careful watch as Hank strutted into one of the nine makeshift arenas in the stadium. Battles were usually quick, and constant. People walked in and out of the stands at leisure, depending on what their friend's schedule was like.

Hank was certainly enjoying his taste of power. He had already won the first battle with relative ease, and even though he promised to lose one battle, Asen wasn't sure that was going to happen. That's why he was here watching with a walkie-talkie in hand, but his preparations seemed for naught when saw who Mike was going to be fighting. Small screens that where attached to the seat flashed information from each of the nine arenas, showing the trainers that would be fighting in each one and with what pokemon. With a sigh of relief he saw that Mike was facing two butterfrees, and while Mike had the type advantage Asen knew that there was little chance for Mike to win.

Still, he tapped on Mike's picture, muttering, "Just in case," and the touch sensitive screen showed Mike's battle area from the news camera's view on the sidelines. In this way he, as well as anyone else in the stands, could watch two battles at once. For some reason Asen could not shake the feeling that something was going to go wrong. "Hank," he said into the walkie-talkie.

"What do you want?" he growled into the blue tooth like device, feinting combing his hair. "You know that if I'm caught with this I could get kicked out, right?"

Ignoring that fact, Asen said, "You're facing an aggron and a sableye..."

"I know that, dumbass! Is that all yo-"

"Shut up and listen!" Hank didn't answer, he just crossed his arms and glared at the opposite of the field, where his opponent, a small girl with an annoyingly bright smile, was being interviewed before the match. "The pokemon that that girl has are tough, probably tough enough to beat Hitmonchan and Yanma. Why don't you lose this one? It'll be easier to make it look like an accident."

Asen watched Hank run his fingers through his hair, he didn't look happy, "Fine..."

An interview crew approached Hank after that and Asen turned off the walkie-talkie and waited for the match to start.

%%%

Kisha couldn't believe her eyes. "Magnum, Bullet..." she whispered under her breath. Crush and Crystal turned and looked at her, their expressions unreadable. "Guys I..." she tried and failed to meet their gazes and instead looked at the ground in shame, "I don't think I can do this. I-"

"Hitmon!" A gruff voice came from the other side of the field and Kisha looked up. Magnum pounded his chest with his gloved fist and shouted again, "Hitmon!" Yanma next to him was nodding in agreement. Magnum repeated the motion, but this time Kisha could have sworn that Magnum said "Hit me!"

As if to confirm this Kisha felt Sophia's mind touch hers and said, [He's telling you not to hold back. And that if you do, he and Bullet will be mad at you.] She paused and added, [I don't think that's an idle threat...]

[But... what about Mike? I don't want to...]

[I believe that he would want you to go all out too... in fact I know it. This battle can't be lost in his eyes, because both you and his pokemon can only come out stronger as a result of this battle.]

Kisha didn't answer, but after a moment she looked at Crush and Crystal, who where still looking at her intently, and said with new confidence in her voice, "Let's do this!" Crystal gave a toothy grin and Crush let out a fierce roar in agreement. Kisha Looked across the field at her friend's pokemon, smiled mischievously and pounded her fist in her hand.

Magnum returned the gesture with a loud, "Hitmon!" There was no question now that that meant hit me.

%%%

Mike dreaded this moment, but there was no delaying it any longer, the other trainer had already called out her pokemon and now everyone was waiting on Mike's. With great reluctance he called out Punching and Bag, not even saying so much as a "come on out."

There was the familiar (though no less humiliating) rumble of laughter in the stands as the pidgeys tried to peck at the ground. As usual, the pidgeys didn't even seem to realize that they were in fact in a battle. Still familiar was the amusement in the announcer's voice as she said, "And Mike's two pokemon are both pidgeys. It looks like he has a type advantage over Jessica's butterfrees." Then she muttered under her breath, "but not much else."

Jessica, looking a bit relieved, (Had she too been duped? Butterfrees didn't seem like the kind of pokemon one would enter a tournament with,) raised her hand and said, "Get 'em!"

As the two butterfrees charged forward, Mike yelled, "Will you two at least look at the the pokemon that are going to flatten you?" To his surprise, the pidgeys decided to listen to him. But what happened next left him speechless until the end of the fight.

%%%

In the crowd's roar the pokemon could no longer hear their trainer's commands. So out of mutual consent, they stood waiting (and resting) until the noise died down enough to be able to hear orders. Crush, Crystal, Magnum, and Bullet had fought so fiercely for the first two minutes that the entire stadium was on it's feet with excitement. even the announcer could barely make himself heard over the crowd of voices and even he was shouting himself hoarse.

Kisha used this lull to plan her next move. Hank seemed unable to think straight when fast calls where necessary, so the obvious way to beat him would be to keep the pressure on until he messed up. Unfortunately, Kisha didn't have the experience to keep up prolonged firefights. She wished Sophia was still here, but she had left before the crowd got too excited, and besides, getting her help would be cheating. She also remembered that Mike had once told her what he wanted to improve in his pokemon, what weaknesses he wanted to eliminate. But Kisha couldn't remember what...

"AH!" Suddenly the memory hit her. "Bullet's a wimp," he had said affectionately, earning him a hair tousle from Bullet, "He takes a couple little hits and he goes 'Ope! I'm done.' Magnum's a bit slower than a normal hitmonchan and he pays no attention to his surroundings. If you distract him with a butterfly-er, butterfree overhead and you could run up and punch him in the face without a problem.

The crowd was finally calming down and Kisha whipped up a quick plan. "Crush, rock blast on Hitmonchan!" A flurry of small meteors flew out of Crush's gaping mouth and aimed themselves at Magnum, while Kisha said quietly to Crystal, "Come here."

"Dodge, Hitmonchan!" shouted Hank, and Magnum began dancing around the miniature meteors, working his way towards Crush.

"Faint attack on yanma!" Shouted Kisha and Crystal disappeared. She reappeared in the air just above and to the side of Yanma and struck him down... Yanma tumbled out of the air and landed right in the line of fire, hit by the very shots that Magnum was dodging so expertly. "Sorry Bullet," Kisha whispered sadly under her breath.

Hank recalled Bullet and watched Magnum's advancement, Kisha saw tension on his face and new he was worried. As soon as Crush's attack ended he shouted, "Mach Punch!" With blinding speed, Magnum dashed forward and jabbed Crush in the belly, who released an audible grunt. "Now back up, play defense." Magnum obliged, turning so that his eyes could dart back and forth between Crystal and Crush without turning his head. He raised his gloves to either side of his face, one further forward than the other, and half crouched so he was ready to dodge.

For some reason, it was dead quiet in the stands, a tense feeling had blanketed the entire arena, even the announcer stayed quiet. Kisha wondered briefly what this would feel like to Sophia, then snapped her attention back to the battle. For a long while everything was silent.

Hank forgot that he was supposed to be losing, his mind was racing, trying to find a way out of this mess. He drew a breath and said in a calm voice, so as not to startle the girl (he still didn't know her name) into attacking. "Hitmonchan, what do you suggest we do here?" With out taking his eyes of his opponents, Magnum froze both his fists. Hank got the message. "Good, then maybe we can still win this." Magnum gave a quick almost imperceptible nod. "Take a step towards Sableye."

Crush growled menacingly and made a move to stop him. "No, Crush..." Kisha said as calmly as Hank. She caught his eye and as they stared at each other, Kisha began to feel like a hero from one of those wild west movies. She almost wished for a piece of tumble weed. Again she snapped herself out of distraction. Still in a calm voice she said to Crystal, "Meet him half way."

Magnum and Crystal walked slowly towards each other their guards up. When they stood within feet of each other they stopped.

Another moment, which seemed like eternity, and both Kisha and Hank burst out at the same time.

"Ice Punch!"

"Fury swipes!"

Crystal lost, but it was a spectacular loss. The crowd erupted again as the two pokemon traded blows, they were yelling sides, "Go, Saybleye!" and, "Go, Hitmonchan!" Cheers were heard as Magnum earned some nasty looking scratches and Crystal was slowly frozen solid. Finally, with a piff and explosion of powdered snow, Magnum landed a devastating hook, causing saybleye to spin and fall.

Even as she fell though, Kisha yelled "Hyperbeam!" and Magnum looked up and saw Crush looming over him, not even five feet away, mouth open and shining... Magnum's fists dropped and Kisha saw for an instant his expression, which seemed to say, "Aw Hell," before he was hit by the beam full force.

Magnum skidded to a halt in front of Hank, out cold. Hank swore loudly and recalled him, not hearing the crowd shouting it's approval

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! IT'S ALL OVER! THAT WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST BATTLES I HAVE EVER SEEN. YOUNG KISHA BANADES HAD SHOWN GREAT PROMISE HERE TODAY. LET'S HOPE THAT HER NEXT FEW BATTLES ARE AS STUNNING AS THIS ONE!"

"Hank, Hank!" Asen shouted into his walkie-talkie, trying hard not to sound amused. "Cool it, man, you where supposed to lose!" But Hank wasn't listening. he was too busy stomping his feet and cussing loudly. Finally, Asen just laughed, and looked down and his sceen and felt his laughter catch in his throat. He double checked and triple checked the information. Then, frustrated, he hit the replay button.

%%%

From the camera angle, Asen could see everything.

The battle started with the butterfree dashing forward, maybe in a quick attack. Mike shouted something at his pokemon, Asen couldn't tell what, and then the battle got ugly.

In the blink of an eye one of the butterfree was on the ground, both the pidgeys looming over it. Then they started pecking, not as an attack to subdue, but to eat. Breaking through the poor bugs exoskeleton and tearing sizable chunks of flesh. The trainer hastily called back her pokemon before they could do more damage, though Asen wondered if it was too late. Too soon, they rounded on the other butterfree, who dodged and began to gain altitude. The pidgeys jumped at it, but because of their weight, they could not follow it into the air.

There was a pause from the girl as she thought up her plan. She suddenly seemed to have an idea and yelled something. The butterfree swooped down while dropping a bright, shimmering, blue sleep powder. The pidgey stopped hopping at once, and seemed to be swaying in exhaustion but they continued eying the butterfree hungrily. The girl yelled something else, and the butterfree shot a rainbow colored beam, confusion attack, at them. It hit one, and swayed even more heavily in place, but the other one snapped back into full attention.

Now Mike yelled something, but at first the pidgeys didn't listen. Looking frustrated he repeated himself, and when that didn´t have any effect he tried yelling something else, and instantly the pidgeys pulled off a stunt Asen wouldn't have believed if it hadn't been caught on camera. They jumped upwards and towards each other, and one then jumped off the other. The second jump allowed it to reach the butterfree and clamp it's beat on one of the feet. The butterfree, unable to handle the load, plummeted like a rock, and the pidgeys again tried to gorge themselves before the trainer called back her pokemon.

The match was over in two minutes.

But the story didn't stop there. The battle was freshly over and the pidgeys began glowing, they were evolving. "Well crap. Now he's got a couple of pidgeottos!" Asen put away the screen and got up to meet Hank, who was still fuming over his lost battle...his pride.

%%%

Kisha was positively bouncing as she came out of the on-the-spot pokemon center, both her pokemon walking on either side of her. They seem just as happy, but showed it differently: Crystal's jewels shimmered like there was a light from within; Crush tapped his chest plating with his claws in a catchy beat. Right outside people crowded around to congratulate her, cheer for her, see her. She beamed at all of them as she walked by, shaking hands with anyone who asked. The pokemon where also asked for handshakes and even fist bumps. At one point, the crowd got too thick to go through, so Crush took the lead to part the ocean of faces.

She finally got some peace when she got to her hotel room. She recalled her pokemon, telling them to rest, and walked in. She was immediately tackled by a green and white blur.

[I'm sooooo happy for you Kisha!] Said Sophia. [That was absolutely amazing what you did with Crush!]

Kisha got up and squeezed her friend tightly in her arms, lifting her off the ground. "Thank you!" she said out loud and walked in with Sophia still in her arms.

Right inside, with a smile so wide that seemed like it would belong the the cheshire meowth, David was sitting on the bed watching the replay's of the final moment of the match on the hotel TV. When he noticed Kisha he stood up and extended a hand, saying, "Good job."

Kisha put down Sophia, ran to David, ignoring the hand, and threw her arms around his waist. After the initial surprise he smiled and hugged her back. Sophia immersed herself in the joy that filled the room, sweet and soft; she enjoyed much better than the smoothie they had given her. And I'm not getting a brain freeze to boot!

%%%

Mike came out of the pokemon center even more confused than before. Even the nurses had said that the pidgey had been fit to evolve, but then again...

Mike shook his head to clear his thoughts. He was almost at the hotel room and he didn't want to confuse poor Sophia again. He opened the door and Kisha noticed him first. "Mike! Congrats! I heard you won today! I, uh..." she hesitated.

"I heard you beat my pokemon. Good work!" Mike replied heartily. He sat down on the bed with her, David, and Bob, and watched the tv, trying to clear his head. The replays of the battles were showing. He tried to enjoy himself, but the feeling he had kept nagging away at him.

[For someone who won against bad odds, you're not very happy,] Sophia commented. [What's wrong?]

[Um...] Unsure of how to answer, he eventually just thought, [Watch the match, it'll probably explain better than I can.]

By the end of the rerun, Sophia felt the same feelings radiating from David and Bob: confusion and disbelief, unsurprisingly.

"Well," Bob whistled. "I didn't know pidgeys turned into that."

"How...how did...that...what?" David cried.

That's when Kisha spoke up in a small voice. "I-I think I can explain..."

%%%

"WHAT! What do you mean I have to lose again?"

"I mean," said Asen, calmly wiping the spit off his face, "You're going to have to lose this next battle. Mike won his last battle, and he's got a couple of pidgeottos."

Now Hank's expression changed to something close to concern and quieted his voice. Normally, he'd only quiet down when they were around civilians, but here in the run down hotel, there wasn't much danger. He muttered, "So this means we're going to try to make it so we face each other in the final round?"

"Yeah, 'cause there's a good chance that Mike will win the next fight."

"But then how am I supposed to beat him while he's got his own pokemon?"

Asen paused with a look of disbelief on his face, "You seriously don't know? If he could get the pidgeys to evolve, then imagine how much stronger he could make them by the next battle, now that they're pidgeottos. Hank, they could be pidgeots by the time you get them back."

Hank still looked doubtful, "Yeah, but then he's going to get his pokemon back and-"

"Exactly! Hitmonchan, a fighting type, and Yanma, a bug type, don't stand a chance against flying types!"

Hank snorted in the "whatever" sort of way, then remarked. "I should have been chosen to proceed in the tournament. Seriously! I'm going to now anyway! What did they think was wrong with my...?"

"PLEASE, I've heard this rant a thousand times before," Asen groaned, tapping into another stadium camera with his laptop for routine survey.

"Oh, like YOU can talk, asshole!" His voice was raised again. "You got a zangoose and bastardion for your two weaklings, and somehow, you're both kicking ass, getting all the glory. Not fair, man, not fair."

Asen rolled his eyes and continued spying on the bustling crowds around the stadium entrance. Nothing suspicious, of course. There really wasn't much point to this activity except the whole, "better safe than sorry" situation. Pokemon and humans just going about their business, including the fluttering of sharp wings, which caused him to have a double-take. "Swellow?"

The person Asen was paired with was not one they particularly cared about by Team Blight, and thus knew nothing about him, or her. Swellow must have been soaring just about their head, but his face was hidden in the crowd. They were heading into the stadium, probably about to battle.

Hank had left in a huff after Asen stopped responding to him. No one would know if he watched one little battle. He opened a window to these inside of the stadium and whispered, "Make me proud, guys."


End file.
